Where We Belong
by cleotheo
Summary: A tragedy robbed Hermione of the wizard she loved during the war, but she managed to move on with her life with some help from her friends. But what happens when Hermione starts seeing a face from the past? Is she imagining her dead boyfriend, or is there something more sinister at work? Is Draco really alive, or is Hermione just losing her mind?
1. Prologue

**A/N – This new story is 19 chapters – including an epilogue and this prologue. Updates will be Tuesdays and Fridays. Enjoy!**

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 **Prologue.**

Standing watching her best friend, Harry Potter, head off to his death, Hermione Granger, fought back the tears that threatened to fall. Beside her, Ron Weasley, her other best friend, gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. Unlike Hermione, Ron had no idea just what Harry was heading towards. Over the last few months, Hermione had come to recognise that Harry was a Horcrux, albeit an accidental one, and judging from the look on his face as he went off to face Voldemort, Harry had come to the same conclusion.

"I've got to go back into the Great Hall," Ron said gently. His family were in there, grieving for the loss of Fred, and Ron understandably wanted to be there with them.

"I'll catch you later," Hermione replied. She had something to do, or rather someone to find, and it would be easier without Ron around.

Hermione walked Ron back into the Great Hall, double checking who she was looking for wasn't in there. Finding no sign of the boy she was looking for, Hermione watched Ron head over to his family. She watched the Weasleys for a minute, before turning around and leaving the Great Hall before she began to cry. Instead she focused on finding the wizard she loved. She knew he was around somewhere, she just hoped he wasn't too badly injured. Last time she'd seen him he'd been battered and bruised, but there was nothing seriously wrong with him.

As she wandered the ruined castle, she thought about her boyfriend, and how she came to fall in love with Draco Malfoy.

Their first interaction as something other than enemies occurred in second year when he'd found her and apologised for calling her a mudblood. Hermione had accepted his apology, and things had gone back to normal. Things didn't really change until third year, when it was Hermione's turn to apologise to Draco after hitting him. Unlike the previous apology, the pair actually spoke for a while and they decided to give one another a chance. As a result, they started a secret friendship.

The friendship was mainly a secret because of Draco's parents. Even though Hermione knew her friends wouldn't approve, she wasn't that worried about telling them. However, it was different for Draco. He was going against everything he'd been brought up to believe in by befriending her, and he was terrified his father would disown him if he ever found out the truth. So even though she hadn't been keen on the whole secret aspect of things, Hermione had kept quiet about their friendship.

Hermione couldn't really say for sure when romantic feelings started to creep into their friendship. Over the course of fourth year they grew increasingly closer, and it seemed like the most natural thing in the world when they shared a kiss on the last day of term. Of course, like their friendship, their romance had to be kept under wraps. Although, Draco had promised her that the moment he left school he would tell his parents everything, and he would be with her regardless of what they said.

Unfortunately, the end of fifth year changed all that. Lucius's arrest turned Draco's life on his head, although he never blamed Hermione and her friends for what had happened to his father. He was adamant Lucius had made his own choices, and they were what had landed him in Azkaban. Before they'd parted ways for the summer, Draco had promised her that he would never follow in his father's footsteps and join the Death Eaters. Not that he had any choice in the matter in the end.

When they'd returned to school for sixth year, Hermione had already known something was going on with Draco, and he'd quickly confirmed her worst fear. He'd been forced to take the Dark Mark and he'd been tasked to do something terrible for Voldemort. Draco had never discussed what Voldemort wanted him to do, and every time Hermione had raised the topic he'd change the subject. In fact, he spent most of their time together in sixth year encouraging her to leave him. Hermione wasn't having any of it though, she loved Draco and she wasn't going anywhere.

Hermione actually spent most of her sixth year trying to find a way for Draco to escape Voldemort's clutches. Unfortunately, The Dark Lord had Draco well and truly in his grasp. He'd had Draco's mother, Narcissa, under constant surveillance and there was no way she was doing anything without him knowing what was going on. It meant the Order wouldn't have been able to get to Narcissa and rescue her, and Draco had refused to abandon his mother. Leaving Voldemort would have resulted in Narcissa's death, and Draco wasn't going to be responsible for the death of his mother.

Hermione had accepted that Draco was stuck until they defeated Voldemort, and she'd made a vow to herself that she'd do everything in her power to make sure he wasn't treated too harshly if they managed to get rid of Voldemort and won the war. When Dumbledore had died, and she'd found out about Draco's part in proceedings, she'd been worried her boyfriend was doomed to spend the rest of his life in Azkaban, but surprisingly Harry had been on Draco's side. Harry was adamant that Draco never would have killed Dumbledore, and he was sure that if they hadn't been disturbed that Draco would have taken the offer of help Dumbledore had extended to him.

Ironically over the course of the last year, Harry had become more convinced that Draco wasn't a willing supporter of Voldemort. Whenever Harry had flashes of what Voldemort was up to and Draco was around, he witnessed just how The Dark Lord taunted the blond boy. Then there was the incident at Malfoy Manor when Hermione, Harry and Ron had been caught by the snatchers. Draco had tried his best to lie for the three of them, and even when really pushed about identifying them, he did his best to be vague. Unfortunately, his Aunt Bellatrix was present, and she'd been determined to get the truth out of them so she'd decided to torture Hermione.

Hermione didn't like to think about the torture she endured at the hands of Draco's aunt. It was the most horrific experience of her life, and what had made it worse was knowing that Draco was standing helplessly watching her suffer. Of course, he could have come to her rescue, but that would have only resulted in both of their deaths. Instead, he did the right thing, even if it was the hard thing, and stayed out of things the best he could. Luckily, Harry and Ron had broken out of the dungeons and rescued her, although Hermione suspected that Draco had something to do with that.

Afterwards, they'd learnt from Luna Lovegood and Dean Thomas, who'd also being held prisoner in the manor, that Draco had done his best to look after them. He would often sneak food down to them and he did everything he could to make them comfortable. By this point even Ron had to admit that Draco wasn't all bad, and that he'd just found himself in an impossible situation.

That was a few months ago, and the last time Hermione had seen Draco before they arrived at Hogwarts. Since arriving at Hogwarts, Hermione had spotted Draco a few times, but they hadn't had the opportunity to really talk to one another. Instead, Hermione was running about helping Harry while Draco was just making sure he stayed out of harm's way as there were people on both side who were likely to hurt him if they got hold of him.

As she continued to look for her boyfriend, Hermione was beginning to wonder if the worst had happened. She was just praying she didn't stumble across Draco's prone body. Glancing around, Hermione searched the floor for any sign of her wayward boyfriend. Still not finding him, she began to head back towards the Great Hall. As she approached the Great Hall, she spotted a figure walking towards her and she let out a squeal of delight when she recognised a dishevelled Draco.

Running over to her boyfriend, she threw her arms around him. Draco immediately returned her embrace as he buried his head in her hair. The pair stayed wrapped in each other's arms for several minutes, before they parted just enough to look at each other.

"Are you okay?" Hermione checked, wiping a streak of blood off Draco's forehead.

"I'm fine, just superficial injuries," Draco replied. "How about you? You're not hurt, are you?"

"I'm okay," Hermione confirmed.

"And how are you otherwise?" Draco asked gently as he cupped Hermione's cheek in his hand. "Everyone heard The Dark Lord summon Potter. I take it he went."

"Of course he did," Hermione replied with a sad smile.

"Sometimes, I envy Potter," Draco confessed quietly. "I wish I could be as brave as he is, instead of the coward I am."

"You're not a coward," Hermione insisted forcefully. "Just look at everything you've done to ensure nothing happened to your mother. Not everyone can be heroes like Harry, the rest of us just have to be ordinary."

"I hope you're not including yourself in that," Draco remarked with a small smile. "You're not ordinary, Hermione. You're amazing."

Hermione smiled up at Draco, before leaning forward and capturing his lips with hers. After not being together for months, the kiss quickly turned into a more heated affair. Hermione's arms were wrapped tightly around Draco's neck and his hand was buried in her hair, their bodies pressed closely together, when a cough interrupted them. Hermione broke away from Draco with a frown, but when she turned around and spotted Ron standing in the doorway of the Great Hall her frowned turned to a look of panic. This wasn't how she planned on telling her friend she was involved with Draco.

"Ron, we can explain," Hermione said gently as she disentangled herself from Draco's embrace.

"What's to explain, you're clearly a couple," Ron replied with a shrug.

"Why aren't you more surprised?" Hermione asked in confusion.

"Did you really think you were that subtle?" Ron asked with a small chuckle. "Did it not occur to you that Harry and I know you well enough to pick up on a change in your behaviour? We noticed back in school how your attitude towards Malfoy had changed. We guessed you liked him, but we weren't sure it was mutual until recently."

"What do you mean?" Hermione questioned.

"The manor," Ron explained. "When we burst in and rescued you from Bellatrix, we both noticed Malfoy's reaction. He looked so grateful when we took you, and when we first burst into the room it looked as though he was on the verge of doing something drastic."

"I was," Draco confessed. Even though he'd known it would mean his own death, he hadn't been able to stand watching any longer and he'd been getting ready to tackle his aunt.

"So you're not mad?" Hermione checked with her friend.

"No, I'm not mad," Ron answered. "And neither is Harry. But now really isn't the time to discuss this. Let's get rid of the threat before we start debating your romantic choices."

Ron had barely finished talking when there was a commotion outside and people began running out of the Great Hall. Following the crowds, Hermione, Ron and Draco headed outside to the courtyard. At first they couldn't see anything, but then they spotted an army marching towards them. One of the group towered head and shoulders above the others, and Hermione thought it was Hagrid. Obviously he'd been caught some time during the battle, or perhaps even beforehand.

"What's Hagrid carrying?" Ron asked in a shaky voice as the Death Eaters closed in on them.

Hermione couldn't answer as the tear began slowly dripping from her eyes. The nearer they were getting, the clearer the picture was becoming. Hagrid was carrying the lifeless body of their best friend. Judging from the shouts and cries that were starting to sound all around them, other people were also coming to the same conclusion. As the tears continued to fall, Hermione took hold of both Draco and Ron's hands. Instinctively both boys moved closer to her, nestling her in between their taller frames.

"Harry Potter is dead," Voldemort announced as the Death Eaters came to a stop in front of the assembled group from the castle. "I'm giving you all one final chance. Join me, and live. Fight me, and you'll die."

Several people vocally refused the offer, as Voldemort's red eyes swept over the group. When The Dark Lord's gaze fell on Draco, his lips twisted into a smirk.

"How about you, Draco?" He asked. "You're not abandoning me now, are you?"

For one moment, Hermione thought Draco was going to let go of her hand and move across the courtyard. However, he merely stepped forward slightly so he could scan the crowds with Voldemort. Hermione felt Draco stiffen when he found his mother in the crowd. When Narcissa gave him an understanding nod, he stepped back and tightened his grip on Hermione's hand.

"My place is here," Draco announced loudly.

"With the mudblood?" Voldemort barked out a peal of laughter as he pulled out his wand. "You should know better than that, Draco."

Hermione didn't have a chance to react before Voldemort cast a silent spell at her boyfriend. Immediately Draco was encased in a bright blue light and yanked from her grip. His body rose a few feet into the air, before it began convulsing and Draco's loud screams of pain could be heard echoing all over the courtyard. Hermione pulled out her own wand and tried to fire at Voldemort, but he'd clearly put a protective barrier between them as her spell fell short. Hermione's actions just caused Voldemort to laugh loudly as he increased whatever force he was exerting on Draco, causing the blond to howl in agony.

With her own magic not helping her boyfriend, Hermione was a wreck. Screaming and shouting, she was unaware of the movement over the other side of the courtyard. Her focus was all on Draco, and as such she missed Harry getting to his feet. It wasn't until Voldemort abruptly dropped the spell on Draco that she realised what was happening. Hermione only had a brief second to register that Harry was alive, before she was rushing to Draco's side after he'd tumbled back down to the ground with an almighty thud, limbs lying at unnatural angles and blood oozing out onto the hard ground around him.

"You're going to be okay, Draco," Hermione said quietly as she checked her boyfriend over. Somewhere along the line he'd slipped into unconsciousness, but Hermione could still feel a pulse. "You can't leave me," She whispered, tears falling from her eyes. "Please. I need you, don't leave me."

 ** _000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000_**

Hermione took a deep breath as she stepped into the elevator in the reception of St Mungo's and pushed the button that would take her to the floor where her boyfriend was residing. It was just over a week since the final battle, and things were still touch and go for Draco. After Voldemort had released his from whatever spell he had over him, Hermione had protected Draco as the final battle reached its climax. She'd only been vaguely aware of Harry defeating Voldemort, and the Death Eaters scattering. Of course, she'd heard the whole story since, but at the time her priority had been Draco.

After being treated at the scene, Draco had been rushed to St Mungo's. He was in a pretty bad way when he was admitted, and he'd spent a couple of hours undergoing emergency treatment. Since then he'd been in a coma, and was residing in a special room where only the healers could enter. Visitors had to make do with viewing Draco through a glass wall to make sure he didn't pick up any infections. He was in such a weakened state, that even the smallest thing could compromise his health and make things ten times worse.

Over the course of the last week, Hermione had visited Draco every day, often two and three times a day. In that time she'd seen Narcissa once, and spoken very briefly to Draco's mother. She'd never seen Lucius, but she knew the Ministry had agreed to hold off on making a decision about his future. Harry told her that Lucius had given the Aurors a bit of help, and would likely end up with a reduced sentence, or even a postponed sentence. On a personal level, Hermione couldn't care less what happened to Lucius Malfoy, but she was pleased for Draco that it looked as though his father would still be around and not stuck in Azkaban for the rest of his life.

When she arrived on the correct floor, Hermione took another deep breath before alighting from the lift. It broke her heart seeing Draco lying lifeless in the sterile hospital bed, and it took all of her courage to visit him and not break down in tears. Putting on a smile, Hermione approached the desk that visitors signed in at. She was rather surprised when she was greeted by a medi-witch she didn't know as she thought she knew all the staff on the ward.

"I'm here to see Draco Malfoy," Hermione explained. "My name's Hermione Granger."

"I've got a message for you, Miss Granger," The medi-witch replied. "Healer Smith wants to see you in his office."

Healer Smith was Draco's healer and as the medi-witch led her to his office, Hermione felt a wave of apprehension flood her. She'd spoken to Draco's healer numerous times, but he'd never asked to see her in his office. The second Hermione entered the office, and the medi-witch shut the door behind her as she returned to her post, Hermione knew something was wrong. Healer Smith always looked serious, but if it was possible he looked even more sombre than usual.

"What's wrong?" Hermione demanded. "Has Draco developed an infection?"

"Please sit down," Healer Smith urged, practically forcing Hermione into a chair before perching in the chair opposite her. "I'm afraid it's not good news. Late yesterday evening, Draco took a turn for the worse. We spent several hours battling to save his life, but I'm afraid his injuries were just too severe and we lost him. I'm sorry, but Draco died in the early hours of this morning."

"No." Hermione barely recognised the primal wail that sounded from her as she collapsed in floods of tears. This wasn't supposed to happen, she and Draco had their whole lives in front of them, and they were supposed to be happy together.

As she wrapped her head around what had happened, she half listened to Healer Smith's explanation and apologies for not being able to do more. She only raised her head when Healer Smith told her in a rather embarrassed voice that he had a message from Draco's family.

"They wanted me to let you know that the funeral will be a private affair, only family," Healer Smith said, looking as embarrassed as he sounded. "Mr Malfoy was most insistent, that you weren't welcome."

"I don't suppose I will be," Hermione whispered.

To be honest she wasn't surprised by Lucius shutting her out, but right now it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was that she'd lost the man she loved, and she had no idea how she would move on with her life. How did she cope with losing the wizard she loved at only eighteen? How did she live her life without Draco by her side?


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One.**

 **Seven years later.**

Sitting in the new Parisian style café in Diagon Alley, Hermione was doing her best to appear interested in the conversation taking place between the two women she was having lunch with. However, listening to Molly Weasley and her daughter, Ginny Potter, discuss the latest family events wasn't providing much of a distraction for Hermione. Instead her mind was elsewhere as she thought about what had been on her mind for the last four weeks, her engagement to her long-time friend and boyfriend of three years, Ron Weasley.

From the moment Hermione had said yes to Ron's proposal and he'd slipped a modest diamond engagement ring on her finger four weeks ago, Hermione had been in turmoil. When Ron had proposed it felt like the natural thing to say yes. She loved him, albeit it not in the same way she'd loved Draco, and she knew they could have a happy, fulfilling life together. However, she didn't expect the engagement to come accompanied by a truck load of guilt. Every time she thought about marrying Ron, Hermione felt her heart clench and she was overwhelmed with the feeling she was betraying Draco.

After Draco's death it had been Harry and Ron who had been there for her and gave her the strength she needed to move on and live her life. When Harry had married Ginny, eighteen months after the war, his priorities obviously changed and it meant Hermione spent more time with Ron. The more time the spent together, the stronger their friendship had grown and things had eventually turned to romance. Hermione couldn't really put her finger on when things had changed between them, but entering into a relationship with Ron had seemed the natural thing to do.

Hermione didn't regret her relationship with Ron, and she did love him, but she was very aware of how different it was to when she was with Draco. Her relationship with Draco had been full of fire and passion, whereas things with Ron were more sedate and mundane. Surprisingly, they didn't even argue as much these days despite being very different people. Hermione suspected Ron often skirted an argument, rather than standing up for his own opinions, which just made her compare him to Draco even more. Draco never would have just rolled over to avoid an argument, if he'd had something to say, he would have said it and they would have dealt with it as a couple.

Hermione had felt initial pangs of guilt when she first got together with Ron, but they were nothing compared with the waves of guilt that had been plaguing her since their engagement. She knew it was stupid to feel as though she was betraying Draco as he was dead, and she knew that he wouldn't have wanted her to live her life all alone. Hermione was actually beginning to wonder if her feelings of betrayal was her subconscious way of letting herself know she wasn't ready to marry Ron. Getting married was rather final, and she was beginning to wonder if she was doing the right thing. Was she just using Draco as an excuse because she was marrying a man nothing like the one she'd once dreamed she would be tying the knot with.

"Hermione." Ginny's snapping fingers brought Hermione out of her thoughts, and she realised she'd zoned out.

"Sorry," Hermione apologised with a smile. "I just got lost in thought."

"What about?" Ginny asked with a mischievous smirk.

"Nothing like that," Hermione replied with a roll of her eyes. She knew Ginny well enough to know her friend's mind had immediately turned naughty.

"I'm sure Hermione was just thinking about the wedding," Molly said, not realising just what her daughter had been implying. "After all, we need to get planning it."

"We've only just gotten engaged, Molly," Hermione protested.

"These things take time to organise, Hermione," Molly replied. "Have you even thought about what sort of wedding you want? Do you want a big, fancy ceremony, or a small, family affair? How much of your muggle roots do you want to incorporate into things? Do you and Ron want to be bonded?"

Hermione's head began to swim with all the questions Molly was throwing at her. To tell the truth, she hadn't given the wedding any real thought. She'd been so consumed thinking about if she was doing the right thing, she hadn't thought far enough ahead to actually picture the actual wedding itself. However, now the ideas were in her head she found she wasn't picturing Ron as the man she walked down the aisle towards. Shaking her head to dispel the images of Draco that were beginning to take shape, Hermione refilled her glass of water.

"I really haven't had time to think about anything like that," She told Molly. "Ron and I will have to discuss it one evening."

"That's a good idea," Molly said with an encouraging nod. "Maybe we should make you a list of things you need to discuss."

"I've got a notebook in my bag," Ginny eagerly offered.

Hermione wondered why Ginny was carrying a notebook around with her, but she didn't actually bother to ask as her redheaded friend whipped it out and placed it on the table in between herself and her mother. Deciding just to let the two women get on with planning a wedding she still wasn't sure was even going to happen, Hermione picked up her water and took a sip.

Settling back in her chair, she glanced around the café as Molly and Ginny got to work. As her gaze flicked past the window, which looked out on a bustling Diagon Alley, Hermione suddenly froze. Standing opposite the café, leaning against a lamppost, was Draco. Not teenage Draco, which was how Hermione always remembered her former boyfriend, but Draco as he would look now at twenty five. Hermione closed her eyes briefly, thinking that when she opened them the vision would be gone. However, when she reopened her eyes, Draco was still standing across the street watching her with his intense grey eyes. Gasping slightly as the vision refused to leave her, the glass she was holding slipped from her hand and smashed when it hit the table, sending water everywhere.

"Hermione," Ginny cried, quickly scooping up the notebook and jumping up before the water trickled across the table and onto her dress.

"Sorry," Hermione apologised, snapping her head around to face the mess she'd just created.

"Are you okay dear?" Molly asked in obvious concern. "You look rather pale."

"I'm fine," Hermione replied, not willing to admit she was seeing visions of a dead man. Turning her head back towards the window, she let out a small sigh of relief when the street opposite the café was deserted.

"What happened?" Ginny asked, moving out of the way as a couple of waiters came over to sort out the mess.

"The glass just slipped," Hermione answered.

"And are you sure you're okay?" Molly checked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I've just got a bit of a headache," Hermione answered, realising as she said it that it was the truth. She hadn't really noticed it before, but her head was starting to pound relentlessly.

"Maybe you should go home and rest," Ginny suggested. "You want to be feeling better for tonight."

Hermione smiled thinly at the reminder that she was due to attend a charity ball with Ron, Harry and Ginny. The charity was connected to the quidditch club Ginny played for and they attended every year. Hermione usually ended up bored out of her brains as the only topic of conversation seemed to revolve around quidditch, something which Hermione was still not interested in.

"Don't worry Gin, I won't miss tonight," Hermione promised. She may find the evening tedious, but Ginny was her friend and she would be there to support her.

"Then go and get some rest," Ginny urged. "Mum and I can finish your wedding list by ourselves."

"And what about our shopping trip?" Hermione asked. The whole reason she'd taken the afternoon off work and was having lunch with Molly and Ginny was so that they could go shopping for Ginny to buy a new outfit for the charity evening.

"I'm sure we can manage on our own," Molly said. "Ginny's right, go and rest, Hermione."

Deciding to take Ginny and Molly up on their advice, Hermione quickly said her goodbyes and hurried out of the café. When she emerged from the café, she headed over to the lamppost where she'd seen Draco standing. Of course there was no sign of him being there as it had all been in her head, but Hermione could have sworn she felt his lingering presence.

"Stop it, you sill cow," She muttered to herself. "He's dead. It's all in your head."

Turning away from the place where she'd seen Draco, Hermione pulled out her wand and apparated back home to her flat. Despite the fact she'd been with Ron for three years and they were now engaged, they didn't live together. Hermione had been adamant she wanted to keep her own space, and Ron hadn't pushed the subject. He'd just settled for them staying over at each other's flats on a semi-regular basis.

After removing her jacket, hanging up her bag and kicking off her shoes, Hermione headed to the kitchen and fixed herself a cup of coffee. Settling down in the front room, Hermione couldn't help but think about what she'd seen at lunch. She often dreamed about Draco, and sometimes he spoke as though he knew what was going on in her life, but she'd never had a vision of him in the middle of the day. It was rather disturbing that her mind would play tricks on her like that, but she thought it could be another indicator of how unsure she was about her engagement. After all, if she was truly happy with Ron, she wouldn't be constantly thinking about her former boyfriend.

 ** _000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000_**

Hermione vowed to put her worries to one side as she entered the charity ball at Ron's side. Even though the evening would be overrun with quidditch talk, she could still try and enjoy herself with her friends. Ron had even mentioned that Ginny had invited Neville and Luna, and Hermione knew neither of them were over obsessed with quidditch, meaning they would hopefully have another topic of conversation.

"Is it just me, or is this bigger than normal?" Hermione whispered to Ron as they entered the ballroom where the evening was being held.

"It is," Ron replied. "The Holyhead Harpies have joined forces with The Appleby Arrows, it's now a joint event for the two teams."

"Great, double the quidditch," Hermione muttered.

"I promise not to talk quidditch the entire time," Ron vowed, giving Hermione a warm smile. "We could talk about the wedding. We need to start making plans."

Hermione nodded at Ron, even though her heart sank at the mention of the wedding. She was hoping for one evening where the wedding wouldn't be mentioned. All she wanted was one evening alone without a mention of her engagement to Ron. She could do without thinking about Draco, not after events of the afternoon.

"Look, there's Harry and Ginny," Ron declared, spotting his sister and best friend across the room.

Hermione and Ron stopped at the bar to get a drink, before they headed over to where Harry and Ginny were chatting with another player on Ginny's team. Harry gave Hermione a peck on the cheek as he greeted the pair, while Ginny introduced them to her teammate, even though they'd met her a few times.

"I hear congratulations are in order," Sophia, Ginny's teammate said with a smile.

"Thank you," Ron replied, pulling Hermione into his side and placing a kiss on the top of her head.

"Have you set the date?"

"Not yet," Hermione replied quickly. It never ceased to amaze her just how much people were interested in her and Ron's life just because they'd helped Harry defeat Voldemort.

After chatting for a bit longer, Ginny's teammate said her goodbyes and headed off. Ginny also quickly excused herself so she could mingle as all the players were expected to do. Left with Harry and Ron, Hermione soon found herself left out of the conversation as they started talking about the upcoming quidditch season.

"I'm going to get another drink," She announced. Ron gave her a half-hearted smile as he barely broke away from his conversation with Harry.

Rolling her eyes, Hermione headed over to the bar, keeping a look out for Neville and Luna. By the time she was served, there was still no sign of the couple, and she was so distracted looking for them, she almost walked into a fellow guest.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention," She said, checking she hadn't spilt wine all over the wizard she'd almost crashed into.

"You should pay attention," The wizard sneered.

Hermione looked up at the wizard with a frown, since she apologised she saw no reason why he should be so rude. When she got a good look at the wizard, she felt she should know him but she couldn't put her finger on where from. He looked to be about her age, with brown hair and he was fairly good looking.

"Are you done staring, Granger?" He snapped.

"Sorry," Hermione apologised, blushing slightly as the implication she was checking the wizard out. "Hold on, you know my name?"

"Doesn't everyone," He replied with an unimpressed snort. "You are the war heroine, Hermione Granger. The Gryffindor Golden Girl."

Hermione winced at the nickname, which she knew stemmed from school. In fact it had been Draco who had given it to her, one time when his friends were around and they were pretending to argue. The only people who'd ever used it were Slytherins, and they all spat it in the same hateful way in which the wizard in front of her said it.

"Nott," Hermione declared, suddenly placing the wizard in front of her. "You're Theo Nott."

"I know who I am," Theo replied with a sneer. "And I know exactly who you are. Now if you'll excuse me, there's people here I actually want to talk to."

As Theo stalked away from her, Hermione was left slightly stunned from their conversation. She'd never really known Theo in school, but he had never seemed as antagonistic as some of his other house mates. In fact Draco had always said he was a really good guy, and he wouldn't judge Hermione. Seemingly Draco had been wrong, and his friend wasn't the good guy he'd always thought. Theo Nott obviously hated her for some reason, and all she could think of was the fact she was a muggleborn and had helped bring down Voldemort.

Pushing aside her conversation with Theo, she returned to Harry and Ron where she discovered a couple of things. Firstly, Theo had just signed for The Appleby Arrows, hence his presence at the ball, and secondly, Luna was ill so her and Neville wouldn't be making an appearance. Without Luna and Neville to break up the quidditch talk, Hermione quickly drowned her wine as she prepared herself for the long evening that lay ahead of her.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two.**

Since the end of the war, Diagon Alley had changed drastically. Not only had half the shops had a revamp, but the entire place had been extended and a whole set of new shops had opened up. One of those new shops belonged to Hermione, a book shop named The Silver Dragon in honour of Draco. Hermione's bookshop stocked both muggle and wizarding books and had a dedicated area for children to browse through books and even sit and read some.

Even though Hermione had a team of dedicated staff, she tended to be at the shop almost every day. A lot of the work involved paperwork in the back office, but her real passion lay in dealing with the customers and recommending books to them. She especially loved interacting with the children that visited her shop and encouraging them to explore the books she had on offer.

A few days after her hallucination of Draco, Hermione had thrown herself into her work. She knew she had to deal with her feelings of betrayal, and she also knew she had to make a decision about Ron. He deserved better than being messed around by someone who didn't know what they wanted. However, she was finding it hard to sit down and really let herself deal with her emotions. Hermione had always found it easier to deal with cold hard facts, and right now nothing she felt could be neatly sorted into any semblance of order. So for the time being, she was pushing everything aside and just focusing on getting through each day.

Everything was going fine, and Hermione was starting to think it was time for her to sit down and have a good think, when it happened. The shop was split into two floors, with the smaller top floor overlooking the main body of the shop. The top floor was the children's area, with the books up there designed to be flicked through and read in the shop. Hermione had been upstairs with a mother and her four year old son, who was fascinated by magical creatures, when she headed downstairs to retrieve a new book that she thought might interest the little boy.

As she descended the stairs, Hermione had a perfect view out of the front window and her heart almost stopped when she caught sight of Draco hovering outside. Hermione was so distracted by the sight, she missed the last step on the stairs and went crashing to the wooden floor.

"Hermione!" Paula, one of the girls who worked in the shop cried as she went rushing over to her boss. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Hermione replied, feeling so incredibly stupid at falling down the stairs. Apart for Paula, a few of the customers had also gathered around to check she was okay.

"Are you sure you're not hurt?" Paula checked as she helped Hermione to her feet.

Hermione was just about to reiterate that she was fine, when she placed her weight on her right ankle and cried out in agony. Paula instantly helped her sit down on the stairs, while she pulled off her shoe and checked her ankle. As Paula was checking out the damage, Hermione finally turned back to the large window that allowed the sun to shine directly into the shop. As she expected, there was no sign of Draco. Her hallucination had disappeared when she was stupid enough to fall down the stairs.

"I don't think it's broken, but you really should go and get it checked out at the hospital," Paula said.

Hermione grimaced at the thought of heading to St Mungo's, but she knew Paula was right. Her ankle was throbbing badly, and she needed to get it checked out to be sure she hadn't done any serious damage. She knew from previous experience that it was better to get things looked at as soon as possible. Shortly after the war, Hermione had sprained her wrist and refused to go to the doctors, but a few weeks later she re-injured it and ended up breaking one of the bones, which was ten times more painful than the initial injury.

"Can you get there yourself, or I should I send for the Medi-Wizards?" Paula asked.

Hermione shook her head, not wanting to go to all the trouble of calling for the wizards that were the magical equivalent of paramedics. "I can get to St Mungo's myself."

"Really?" Paula questioned with a sceptical look as Hermione struggled to get to her feet. "You need help, Hermione. Unless we're going to close the shop, I can't come with you."

"Don't close the shop," Hermione ordered, wincing as the pain shot through her as she tried to put some weight on her injured foot.

"Should I send for Ron?" Paula asked. She knew her bosses' fiancé would drop everything and come to her aid.

"No, there's no need for that," Hermione insisted. "I'll tell you what. Pop down the street and see if either George or Angelina are in the joke shop. If they are, ask if one of them can come and help."

Paula sat Hermione back down on the stairs, and let the customers know she would only be a few minutes, before racing out of the shop and down to where Weasleys Wizard Wheezes was located. When she returned less than five minutes later, she had George's girlfriend, Angelina Johnson with her.

"What the hell happened, Hermione?" Angelina asked as she made her way over to her friend.

For a minute, Hermione contemplated telling Angelina the truth, but not wanting to sound like a complete lunatic she settled for telling the story without including Draco. Of course it made her sound like a clumsy idiot, but it was better than sounding like someone who was losing her mind.

"Come on then," Angelina said as she helped Hermione to her feet and wrapped her arms around her waist. "Let's get you to hospital."

"Thanks for this Angelina," Hermione said as they slowly made their way into the back office to use the floo network.

"No problems," Angelina returned with a smile. "It's what friends do."

Together the two witches headed to St Mungo's, where they spent nearly an hour in the emergency department waiting to be seen. When Hermione was finally seen by a healer, she was diagnosed with a severe sprain. The healer gave her a couple of potions, one to help with the pain, one to help with the sprain, wrapped her ankle up and told her to rest it for a few days.

"Lucky thing, you get a few days sitting around at home with your feet up," Angelina remarked as they headed back to Hermione's flat.

"I'll be going crazy within the hour," Hermione predicted. She hated not having anything to do, and given her state of mind at the minute, sitting around doing nothing wouldn't be the best thing for her.

"Do you want me to call Ron and let him know what's happened?" Angelina asked.

"No, he should be coming round tonight anyway," Hermione answered.

"Are you sure you don't want to let him know what's happened so he can come over and stay with you?" Angelina checked. "Since you're supposed to be resting, you really should have someone here with you."

"I'll be fine," Hermione insisted. "In case you forgot, I'm a witch. I can summon anything I need."

"Okay, but if you need anything, just call me and I'll come back and play nursemaid," Angelina promised.

"Now that sounds more like something George would enjoy," Hermione joked.

"Oh, it is," Angelina replied with a chuckle.

Saying goodbye to Angelina, Hermione settled back on her sofa as she contemplated what had happened. Like it or not, it was time for her to have a serious think about her future. She couldn't carry on the way she had been. She needed to deal with the demons of her past, or else she would never be able to really have a future.

 ** _000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000_**

"We could have stayed in," Ron said as he helped Hermione along the street and into the restaurant they were due to dine in that evening.

It was two days after Hermione's tumble at work, and even though her ankle was still wrapped up, Hermione had insisted they go to dinner as planned. The pair were dining at a pretty exclusive restaurant, and Hermione knew it had taken Ron months to even get a table. Even being a war hero wasn't enough to jump the long waiting list that the five star restaurant had. Hermione doubted even Harry could have gotten a table without waiting the appropriate amount of time.

"Honestly Ron, I'm fine," Hermione insisted. "My ankle's barely hurting anymore."

"Sure it isn't," Ron muttered under his breath. He'd seen Hermione wincing several times when she thought he wasn't looking, but he knew better than to bring it up. Hermione was ridiculously stubborn, and if she insisted she was okay, then she wouldn't be told any differently.

"You didn't really want to miss tonight, did you?" Hermione asked as they were shown to their seats, which were situated beside the window that overlooked the nearby river.

"Not really," Ron confessed, thanking the waiter for the menus he handed them before disappearing and leaving them alone. "I've been looking forward to this meal for six months."

"Did it really take six months to get a table?" Hermione asked. She knew the waiting list was long, but she hadn't realised it was six months.

"Give or take a few weeks," Ron answered. As he studied the menu, his eyes widened slightly at the prices. These days he had a solid wage as an Auror, not to mention his nest egg that came from the money he'd received after the war from the Ministry, but the evening was still going to cost a bit more than he'd expected.

"All I can say is this place better be worth it," Hermione said as she studied her own menu.

"I've only ever heard great things about it," Ron replied.

"Well, I still say you can't judge until you've experience something for yourself," Hermione replied. "I rarely listen to people's judgements in things, most of the time I don't agree. I've lost track of the amount of supposedly great books I've started to read, only to be disappointed to find they were average at best."

"I'm not sure you can compare a restaurant to a book," Ron laughed.

"Why not?" Hermione shrugged. "Food and books are pretty similar in the respect everyone had different likes and dislikes. Just because most people like this place, doesn't mean we will. Just like not everyone likes the same books."

"I get your point," Ron said. "Let's just wait and judge the place on our own experiences."

That was exactly what the couple did do, as they ordered their meal. By the time they were finishing desert, they'd both decided the restaurant lived up to the hype. The food was delicious, the service was speedy and precise, and the building itself was luxuriously decorated and the tables had enough privacy so that you never felt as though people were intruding on your evening.

"I've got to pop to the bathroom before we get the bill," Ron announced as she got up. "Is there anything else you want?"

"No, I'm stuffed," Hermione replied. She hadn't even been able to finish off all of her cheesecake she was so full.

"I'll be two minutes then." Dropping a kiss to the top of Hermione's head, Ron disappeared in the direction of the toilets.

Hermione watched Ron go with a smile on her face, before she turned to face the window. She was just wondering if she could manage a walk along the riverbank, when movement caught her eye and she found herself staring at Draco once more. This time he was leaning against a railing that ran along the riverside, and Hermione could swear he was looking directly at her. His grey eyes seemed to be watching her with such sadness, and for a minute Hermione almost forgot he was just a figment of her imagination. He looked so real, and she felt as though she could walk across the street and find him waiting for her.

"I've sorted the bill," Ron announced as he returned to the table.

Looking back to her fiancé, Hermione realised she'd been staring out of the window for almost five minutes. Quickly she turned back to the window, and as she suspected Draco was gone.

"Is everything okay?" Ron asked, peering out of the window to see what had gripped Hermione.

"It's fine," Hermione answered in a quiet voice.

Getting to her feet, she took Ron's arm and let him lead her out of the restaurant. Once they were outside, her head turned to where she'd seen Draco, but of course there was no-one down beside the river. Looking longingly at the spot where she'd seen the wizard she'd lost, Hermione sighed and told Ron to apparate them back to her flat. As they disappeared she could have sworn she spotted a flash of platinum blond hair across the street, but she knew it was only in her mind. It was time she moved on and accepted once and for all that Draco was gone and he was never coming back.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three.**

A couple of days after seeing Draco for the third time, Hermione was in her office, staring at her paperwork rather than actually doing it, when there was a knock on the door and Harry entered the room. Hermione hadn't expected to see her best friend, but that didn't mean she wasn't glad to see him. At the minute she would welcome anything that got her mind off what had been happening with her mental state over the last few days.

"I thought we could go to lunch," Harry said as he greeted his friend. "You are free, aren't you?"

"For you, anytime," Hermione replied. "Just let me quickly tidy up."

As she tidied up, Hermione asked what had brought Harry to see her. He made an excuse about Ron getting caught up with a witness, and therefore he had no-one to have lunch with, but Hermione didn't quite believe him. She knew Harry well enough to know he had something on his mind. No doubt he'd get to the real reason for his visit sometime over the course of their lunch together.

"I'm ready to go," Hermione announced a few minutes later as she tentatively got to her feet. Her ankle was still strapped up and throbbed occasionally, usually when she'd been standing or walking for too long, but she could now walk without limping.

"I'd thought we could go to the American diner around the corner," Harry said as the pair left Hermione's office and walked through the shop.

Hermione wasn't at all surprised by her friend's choice, as she knew it was his and Ron's favourite place to eat in Diagon Alley. Hermione quite liked the place, but in her opinion the portions were a bit too big. Most of the time she left half her meal, but since she only ever went to the diner with Harry or Ron, they were always there to finish off what she couldn't handle.

When they arrived at the diner and entered the building they ran into one of Harry's fellow Aurors, who was on leave due to the fact he'd just come back off honeymoon. Hermione knew him well enough to say hello, but once she'd done that she zoned out and let Harry catch up with his friend. As usual the diner was pretty packed and Hermione took a step to the side so she could get a look at one of the menus hanging on the wall. As she did, she spotted Draco sitting in one of the booths. This time he wasn't even looking in her direction and she began to wonder if someone was toying with her. Maybe Draco wasn't in her mind, maybe someone was pretending to be him to freak her out.

Hermione turned back to Harry, ready to ask him if he could see Draco, when a crowd of teenagers got up from a couple of the back booths and made their way towards the front of the shop. The mass exodus meant Hermione was pushed to one side of the diner, and once the teenagers were gone and she could get back over to Harry, the booth where Draco had been sitting was empty.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Harry asked, spotting the distress on his friend's face as his colleague, headed off home to his new wife.

"I'm losing my mind," Hermione whispered. Even though she hadn't planned on telling Harry what was going on, she needed to talk to someone before she lost it completely.

"Let's sit down," Harry said.

Taking hold of Hermione's arm, he led her over to one of the back booths. He then checked what she wanted to eat, and headed off to place the order. When he came back, he was carrying two drinks which he placed on the table.

"Lunch will be about five minutes," He announced as he slid into the booth opposite Hermione. "Now, are you going to tell me what's going on?"

"Only if you tell me why you really want to have lunch," Hermione replied. She's already decided she was going to tell Harry everything, but she wasn't sure where to begin so she was stalling for time.

"I think it's all connected really," Harry said. "I asked you out to lunch to check up on you."

"Why would you need to check up on me?" Hermione asked with a frown.

"Because you haven't been yourself lately," Harry replied, picking up his glass and taking a long drink of his milkshake. "Molly and Ginny said you were acting strange when you had lunch last week. Then Ron told me about dinner the other night. He thinks something happened to scare you. He said you were as white as a sheet when he returned from the bathroom, and you were shaking when he took you home."

"Why didn't Ron ask me about it himself?"

"He tried," Harry pointed out, reminding Hermione how Ron had repeatedly checked on her that evening before she'd had enough and sent him home claiming she had a headache. "So, now I'm asking you. What's wrong, Hermione?"

"I think I'm losing my mind," Hermione answered with a sigh. "I'm seeing things that aren't there."

Harry was just about to ask what Hermione had been seeing, when their food arrived. However, once the waitress had left their food, and double checked they had everything else they wanted, Harry dove into what was bothering his friend, and what exactly she was seeing.

"You're going to think I'm mad," Hermione said quietly.

Harry reached over the table and took one of Hermione's hands in his, giving it a squeeze. "I won't think anything of the sort, Hermione. Tell me what you've been seeing, and maybe I can help."

"Draco," Hermione whispered.

"Excuse me?" Harry frowned in confusion.

"Draco," Hermione repeated. "I've been seeing Draco."

"You mean he just pops up?" Harry asked.

"Yeah," Hermione answered with a nod. "It started that day with Molly and Ginny. I looked out of the window, and there he was, standing opposite the café watching me. I was so shocked I dropped my glass, and when I looked back towards the window he was gone."

"And was that the only time you've seen him?" Harry questioned.

Hermione shook her head. "The next time was a few days later, outside of the shop. I was coming down the stairs, and he was outside, watching me again."

"That's when you fell down the stairs," Harry concluded. He'd always thought there was something else going on as Hermione wasn't the sort of person to miss her footing and go tumbling down the stairs.

"Yes," Hermione confirmed. "Then it happened again a couple of nights later, when I was out with Ron. Ron went to the bathroom, and I spotted Draco standing opposite the restaurant. It was the same as the other two times, I looked away and when I looked back he was gone."

"Have you only seen him the three times?" Harry asked, trying to wrap his head around what was happening to his friend.

"No, it's happened again," Hermione confessed. "In fact, it was when we entered the diner. I saw Draco in one of the booths, but then all those teenagers left and by the time I could see the booth again, he was gone. So what do you think, am I going mad?"

"You're not going mad," Harry reassured his friend.

"How else would you describe seeing someone who wasn't there?" Hermione asked with a snort. "I would categorize that as unstable."

"Has it occurred to you that these sightings pretty much coincide with your engagement?" Harry asked.

"I had noticed that," Hermione admitted. "I think I may be having second thoughts about marrying Ron."

"Or maybe you're having a hard time letting go of the past because you had no real closure," Harry suggested.

"Are you trying to tell me I didn't grieve for Draco?" Hermione shot her best friend an unimpressed look. He of all people she know just how devastated she'd been after Draco's death, and how long it had taken her to even begin to get over it.

"I'm not saying that," Harry said gently. "I know you grieved for him, I just don't think you were able to get closure. You weren't allowed to go to his funeral, you've never visited his grave, and you've never really had anyone to talk to about his death."

"I had you and Ron," Hermione argued. "And the rest of the Weasleys. You've all been amazing."

"Yes, but we didn't share your grief," Harry replied. "You never had anyone to talk to who was missing Malfoy as much as you. His parents shut you out, and you don't run in the same circles as his friends. You had to deal with his death all alone."

"And what? You think if I'd shared my grief with someone, I would have put it behind me properly?"

"I don't know," Harry admitted with a shrug. "I just think you had an extra layer of suffering to your grief, because you did it alone. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think you might need to say a proper goodbye to Malfoy. You need to do something symbolic, where you can let him go and move on with your life."

"Any ideas what?" Hermione asked. She wasn't sure about Harry's theory, but she would try anything if it helped her stop seeing visions of her dead lover.

"Let me think about it," Harry replied with a smile. He actually had a plan in mind, but he didn't want to get Hermione's hopes up. "In the meantime, I think you should talk to Ron about this. He's worried about you, Hermione."

"I don't think telling him any of this will be a good idea," Hermione said with a shake of her head. "What man wants to know their fiancée if seeing the ghost of the man she lost. I don't need to rub Ron's nose in the fact I once loved someone else."

"Ron understands about Malfoy," Harry said to his friend. "He doesn't expect you to pretend it never happened. He knows you have a past, and he respects that. Just talk to him, Hermione."

"I'll think about it," Hermione promised.

Harry gave Hermione a smile, before dropping the subject. He was still going to try and help her, he just hoped she confided in Ron about what was happening. He knew Ron just wanted Hermione to be happy, and that he would never be mad at her for thinking about what she had lost.

Once lunch was over, Harry walked Hermione back to her shop, before he headed back to the Ministry. When he arrived back to work, he still had ten minutes before the end of his lunch break so he went up to the top floor to see if he could speak to Kingsley Shackelbolt, the Minster for Magic. He knew from experience that Kingsley rarely left his office for lunch, unless he had an appointment with someone outside of the Ministry. Sure enough Kingsley was in his office, and Harry was able to get in to see the Minster based on who he was. Sometimes it paid to by the big war hero who'd defeated Voldemort and saved the wizarding world.

"Harry, what can I do for you?" Kingsley asked, not seeming at all bothered that his lunch had been interrupted.

"I want to ask a favour," Harry said as he took a seat in front of Kingsley's desk. "Technically, it's for Hermione."

"Just say the word, and I'll do all I can to help," Kingsley said with a smile. Even though Hermione didn't work for the Ministry, he was fond of the young witch.

"I need to know where someone is buried," Harry explained. "And I really have no idea how to go about finding out such a thing. I'm guessing there has to be a way, but it's not something I've needed to do as an Auror."

"I don't suppose it is," Kingsley replied, knowing from his own experience as an Auror that looking up the dead wasn't something there was much need for. "And this is for Hermione?" He checked with a puzzled frown.

"Yes," Harry answered with a nod. "She was stopped from going to his funeral, and as a result I don't think she's ever really accepted his death. I thought if she could visit his grave, she could say goodbye and move on."

Kingsley nodded, although he was still mighty confused about who Hermione had lost and then didn't know where they were buried. "So, who am I trying to find? As Minister, I should be able to get the appropriate information within a few hours."

"Draco Malfoy," Harry answered.

"Excuse me?" Kingsley frowned. "I don't understand, Harry."

"It's a long story, but basically Hermione and Malfoy were together in school," Harry explained. "When he died, Hermione was banned from the funeral. I want to know where he's buried, so I can take Hermione and let her say goodbye."

"I wasn't aware Draco was dead," Kingsley said, slightly shocked by the revelation.

"He died in St Mungo's, about a week after he was admitted," Harry said.

"Are you sure?" Kingsley questioned. "I thought that was about the time he was transferred to a private hospital in France."

"He was what?" Harry asked as an unnerving feeling began to gnaw at him.

"Lucius moved him to a private hospital, with specialist healers," Kingsley explained. "I had to sign the paperwork to allow Lucius out of the country. I saw Lucius a few months later, to officially confirm he wouldn't be going to Azkaban, and he mentioned him and Narcissa were moving to France to be nearer to Draco. I know Draco was still in a bad way, and they weren't sure if he would pull through, but he was definitely alive a few months after the final battle."

"Shit," Harry swore. "Is there any way we can find out what happened to him?"

"Of course," Kingsley said with a nod. "Give me until tomorrow morning, and I'll have everything you need to know on your desk."

Thanking Kingsley, Harry got to his feet and returned to work in a daze. If Kingsley was right, there was a chance Draco was still alive. And if that was the case, someone had lied to Hermione and caused her years of needless suffering. Although, having the truth come out now would also cause suffering. He didn't want to hurt Ron, but Hermione needed to know the truth. All he could do was wait and see what Kingsley came up with before making any decisions about what to tell his best friends.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four.**

After an incredibly restless night's sleep, during which he almost told Ginny what was going on, Harry headed into the office bright and early. Of course Kingsley had kept his word, and sitting on Harry's desk was a file containing information on what had happened to Draco after the war. With a sense of trepidation, Harry sat down to examine the contents of the file. Half an hour later, he had a slightly better picture of what had happened to the blond Slytherin.

Kingsley had been right, and Draco had been transferred to a private hospital in France around the time Hermione had been told he was dead. Without checking dates with Hermione, he couldn't be sure if Draco had been transferred before or after her visit to St Mungo's. Draco had then remained in a coma for over a month, before waking up. He'd then spent another couple of months in the hospital, before being released with a private medi-witch assigned to him. Details of his treatment were practically non-existent, probably due to patient confidentiality, although reading between the lines Harry got the impression it had taken the blond wizard a long time to get over his near death experience. Finally Kingsley had included the address in Northern France where Draco now lived, and details of the branch of the family business he ran from an office at his house. There were no other details of his life, so Harry had no idea what the blond was up to these days, other than running part of the family company from his house.

Harry had just shut the file and slipped it into his desk drawer, when Ron entered the department. The redhead made a beeline for Harry's desk, and when he arrived he handed Harry a cup of coffee and a doughnut from the cafe that was now located in the Ministry's atrium.

"What's with the gifts?" Harry asked. "Not that I'm complaining mind you, I think you should bring coffee and doughnuts every day."

"It's a thank you," Ron said with a chuckle, as he settled down at his own desk which was situated back to back with Harry's. The pair were official partners and dealt with major cases as a team, but they also both worked individually on smaller cases.

"Thank you for what?" Harry questioned as he hungrily bit into his doughnut. He'd been so eager to get into work and read the file Kingsley had prepared for him, he'd skipped breakfast.

"Talking to Hermione," Ron replied.

"She spoke to you?" Harry enquired.

"She did," Ron confirmed with a nod of his head. "Thank you for telling her to speak to me."

"I told her you would understand," Harry said quietly, his gaze drifting to the drawer which contained information that could potentially blow the lives of his two best friends apart.

"I just wish I knew how to make her feel better," Ron said with a sigh. "But I don't really know what to do with a fiancée who's seeing a ghost of the wizard she truly loves."

"Hermione loves you, Ron," Harry said, surprised by his friend's choice of words.

"I know she does," Ron replied with a rueful smile. "But we both know, I'm not the love of her life. Whatever she feels for me, will never compare to what she felt for him."

Harry didn't know what to say as he thought his friend was probably right. There was no doubt Hermione loved Ron, but without Draco's death, they never would have gotten together. Before Harry had to work out what to say to his friend, Kingsley poked his head into the department and asked to speak to Harry.

"Did you get the file?" Kingsley asked once they were out in the corridor, out of earshot of the other Aurors.

"Yeah. Thank you."

"My pleasure," Kingsley replied with a small smile. "Although, I'm not sure it's what you wanted, is it?"

"I don't know, Kingsley, it's all such a mess," Harry said, running a hand through his unruly hair in exasperation. "I'm going to have to talk to Ron and Hermione. They deserve to know what's going on, although my gut is telling me it's something dodgy."

"The facts don't quite seem to add up," Kingsley agreed. "I'll leave it in your hands, Harry, but just let me know if you need any assistance."

"Thanks, Kingsley," Harry said, before heading back into the Auror department.

"What's going on?" Ron asked as Harry re-took his seat. "A new case?"

"No, Kingsley just wanted to speak to me about something we were discussing yesterday," Harry replied.

"Okay." Ron nodded, and turned his attention to his own work.

Harry let Ron work for nearly half an hour, before he couldn't stand it any longer. Grabbing the file from his desk, he checked the conference room was free before dragging Ron inside, telling him he needed to speak to him urgently.

"Why do I get the feeling this is bad news," Ron muttered as he watched Harry anxiously pace up and down beside the large table in the room.

"To be honest Ron, I don't know what sort of news it is," Harry confessed. "It's certainly unexpected."

"Spill it Harry," Ron urged.

"After I'd spoken to Hermione and she told me what was wrong, I came up with a plan to help her. I thought if she visited Malfoy's grave she could say a proper goodbye and move on."

"That sounds like a great plan," Ron enthused. "I can't believe I never thought of it earlier."

"Anyway, I didn't know where he was buried. I wasn't sure if the Malfoys had any sort of crypt at the manor, or elsewhere, or if he'd just been buried in a graveyard near to where they lived. So I decided to ask Kingsley if he could find out where Malfoy was buried, only Kingsley didn't even know he was dead," Harry explained.

"I'm not sure it was ever really made public knowledge," Ron said with a thoughtful frown. "I can't say I remember reading about it in the papers, but at the time everything was a mess. It could have just slipped under the radar. And let's face it, you never hear anything of his parents now."

"That's because they moved to France," Harry said, slumping down in one of the seats.

"I didn't know that," Ron said, joining Harry at the table. "But I doubt you brought me in here to tell me the Malfoys now live in France."

"I didn't. I brought you in here to tell you that when I spoke to Kingsley, he told me that Malfoy didn't die, he was transferred to a private hospital." Harry placed the file he'd been carrying onto the table and slid it over to his shell-shocked friend. "He gathered this information for me yesterday."

Ron gazed at the file for a few minutes, before slowly opening it and taking in its contents. Harry sat in silence, watching as his best friend devoured the information that was going to change everything in his life. Harry felt so guilty for burdening Ron with his discovery, but he knew his friends had the right to know what was going on. He was just praying that Ron didn't want to keep it a secret from Hermione as he didn't think he could betray her like that.

"Holy crap," Ron muttered, pushing the file away once he'd read it.

"That's one way of describing the situation," Harry joked. "But seriously Ron, what are we going to do?"

"I don't know," Ron confessed in a small voice. "Although I'm not sure now's the time to discuss it. This is a personal matter and we're at work."

"Why don't I go and speak to Kingsley and see if he'll give us the afternoon off?" Harry suggested. "It'll give us a few hours to think, but then we can discuss things properly.

His mind still reeling from what he'd discovered, Ron nodded his agreement before heading back to work. Before he returned to his own work, Harry went and spoke to Kingsley, who immediately gave the pair the afternoon off and access to one of the smaller conference rooms in the Auror department.

 ** _000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000_**

Harry and Ron sat in the smallest conference room in silence, each of them gazing at the file that had blown their world apart. Even though Harry tended to take the lead, this time he was letting Ron call the shots. Whatever they did next was going to affect him far more than Harry.

"This is all such a mess," Ron finally declared. "What do I do Harry?"

"I wish I knew, mate," Harry replied, giving Ron a sympathetic smile. "I would say let's treat it as we would any other case, but this is personal."

"You could be onto something there," Ron said thoughtfully. "Obviously, we'll have to tell Hermione that Malfoy is alive."

"Even if it means you lose her?" Harry checked. It had occurred to him that Hermione and Ron's relationship wouldn't survive the news Draco was still alive.

"Even if it means I lose her, I can't lie to her," Ron replied in a quiet voice. "However, I want all the facts before we tell her anything. For all we know, Malfoy was in on the whole thing to fake his death."

"He was in a coma at the time," Harry pointed out. "I doubt he could have planned anything in a coma."

"But what about since he woke up?" Ron asked. "Why hasn't he gotten in touch with Hermione? There's something not right here, Harry. And until we know the entire story, we're not telling Hermione anything. If I have to break her heart and tell her Malfoy let her think he was dead, I want the full story."

"Okay, that's a good plan," Harry said with a nod. "Let's find out everything we can about Malfoy's 'death'."

"We should start with the healer who told Hermione he was dead," Ron said. "He had to be in on it somewhere."

"Do you know which healer was treating him?" Harry asked, as he pulled out some parchment to make notes on.

"I really have no idea," Ron admitted. "I think Hermione mentioned it, but I can't remember their name. I think it was a man. I don't want to ask her, or else she'll know something's going on."

"I'm sure we can find out," Harry said with a shrug. "We are Aurors after all. Do you think we need to talk to Malfoy?"

"I think that's a definite," Ron answered. "We need to find out what he knows about what happened seven years ago. We should also talk about this last week."

"This week?" Harry frowned, momentarily forgetting what had led to the revelation that Draco was alive.

"Come on Harry, do you think it's a coincidence that Hermione's being seeing Malfoy and now we find out he's alive?" Ron asked. "It's not in her head, Harry. She's really being seeing him."

"Why now?" Harry mused. "Why is he suddenly back after seven years?"

"The same reason you thought Hermione was having visions of him," Ron replied.

"The engagement," Harry gasped. "Do you think he's come back for Hermione?"

"I guess we'll find out when we speak to him," Ron said with a shrug. "Although before we go and speak to Malfoy, I want to know more about what Hermione was told. I know we want to talk to the Healer who was treating him, but what about the other staff? Did they not think it was odd that Hermione was told Draco was dead? She had to have seen someone else when she was at the hospital."

"I wish we could ask Hermione these things," Harry muttered. "She could give us all the answers."

"I don't want to tell her anything until we know more ourselves," Ron insisted. "Please Harry. Depending what we discover, Hermione could end up having her heart broken. I want some answers before we bring her in on any of this."

"Don't worry Ron, I'm with you on getting some answers before we talk to Hermione," Harry said. "Although, I did promise to try and help her deal with her 'visions'. I don't want to organise some sort of memorial, only for her to find out later that we knew he was alive."

"Hopefully we can get some answers quickly," Ron said. "Let's just tell Hermione, we've got a big case and when we've got time we can arrange something to help her move on. Although, hopefully we can talk to Malfoy and get him to stop popping up unexpectedly."

Harry nodded as he thought about a way they could potentially get the answers they needed from Hermione without ever having to talk to her.

"What are you thinking about?" Ron asked.

"Ginny," Harry answered. "She might be able to remember something about when Hermione was told Malfoy was dead. I know they spoke quite a lot after the event, Hermione might have told her something."

"If we talk to her, we have to swear her to secrecy," Ron said. "I don't want Ginny saying anything to Hermione."

"I'll make sure she keeps quiet," Harry promised. "Why don't I see if I can talk to her, and you can start making inquiries about who was treating Malfoy at St Mungo's."

Ron nodded as he got to his feet. "Let me know if Ginny can be of any help."

Going their separate ways, the two wizards set off to begin investigating the 'death' of Draco Malfoy.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five.**

It only took Harry and Ron a couple of days to begin to form a picture of what had happened seven years ago. Thanks to Kingsley the pair had been given some free time to investigate, although they had been prepared to drop everything and focus on their work if a big case came up. Harry and Ron had left work early, and were currently getting ready to discuss where they were at with Ginny, who'd been able to help them with a few details they couldn't remember. Hermione was due to join them later on for dinner, but for now it was just the three of them.

"So, let's run over what we've got," Harry said as Ginny placed three cups of tea on the table and settled down next to her husband.

"Which is nothing," Ron grumbled.

"Don't be like that Ron, we do know some things," Harry said.

"Yeah, we know the healer treating Malfoy up and left a few days after telling Hermione he was dead," Ron muttered. "And what do you know, the damn man's untraceable now. It's like he vanished into thin air."

"I think it's safe to say he was involved," Harry concluded. "But did someone make him lie to Hermione, or did he do it off his own volition?"

"Why would he tell Hermione that Draco was dead off his own bat?" Ginny asked with a frown. "Even if he had something against Hermione for some reason, it wouldn't work. He managed to keep her away from Draco's family by telling her she wasn't wanted at the funeral, but how did he know she wouldn't talk to his friends? Then there's Draco and his parents. If they didn't know the healer had told Hermione that Draco was dead, surely they would want to know where she was and why she suddenly stopped visiting."

"It's an option we have to consider, even if it does look very unlikely," Harry said to his wife. "A good Auror looks into every scenario, no matter how unlikely it is."

"Leaving aside the ridiculous notion the healer was acting alone, let's get back to what else we know," Ron said. He was convinced the healer had been paid off by someone, and he didn't want to waste their time exploring other ridiculous options. "Aside from the healer, the medi-witch on duty had to have known what was happening."

"Don't forget, Hermione hadn't seen her before," Ginny added. "She was new to the ward."

"That's because the medi-witch that should have been on duty had an accident earlier that morning and was being treated in another department for a broken ankle," Harry said. "We spoke to the director at St Mungo's, and they don't have a record of the medi-witch who filled in for her that morning."

"Isn't that a bit irresponsible?" Ginny questioned.

"Normally, yes," Ron answered. "But don't forget this was a week after the battle of Hogwarts. The place was packed, and new emergencies were coming in all the time. It was pretty much all hands on deck, and people just helped out wherever they could. The medi-witch who was on the ward had just volunteered to help out."

"Most likely after injuring the medi-witch that should have been on duty," Harry added. "To be honest, we can't even say if she was a medi-witch. All we know is someone made sure that Healer Smith was the only person Hermione knew when she went to visit Malfoy that day. If one of the other members of staff had been there, they might have mentioned Malfoy's transfer."

"Which took place the evening before," Ron supplied. "I spoke to the medi-witch who was on duty, and she said it all happened within an hour. Lucius showed up with the paperwork, which Healer Smith seemed to know all about, and less than an hour later, Malfoy had been moved to the private clinic in France."

"Did none of them wonder about Hermione?" Ginny asked.

"They all assumed she either knew before hand, or had been told after it had happened," Harry answered. "They had no idea she'd been told he had died."

"Whoever did this is evil," Ginny seethed. "Hermione has being in unnecessary pain for seven years. Do you have any suspects?"

"The obvious ones are the Malfoys," Ron answered.

"You mean, Draco's parents?" Ginny checked. "You can't honestly believe Draco would do this to Hermione, do you?"

"I wouldn't like to think so," Ron replied. "Malfoy was never my favourite person, but I was with them before Voldemort attacked him, and from what I saw, he genuinely loved Hermione. I would hate to think he could do something like this to her, but there's a lot of unanswered questions surrounding his involvement in this."

"Like what?" Ginny asked.

"Like why has he never tried to contact Hermione," Harry answered. "Like Ron, I want to believe he played no part in deceiving Hermione, but I can't see how he doesn't know what's gone on. Obviously he had nothing to do with it at the time, but he had to have known what Hermione was told when he woke up."

"Why did he have to know?" Ginny questioned. "What if he knows nothing about this?"

"If that's the case, why did he never get in touch?" Ron shot back.

"Even if his family told him Hermione didn't want to know, I can't believe he would have just accepted that," Harry added. "In his position, I would have done everything in my power to get in touch with the girl I loved."

Ginny shook her head stubbornly. "No. I refuse to believe he knows what's gone on. Besides, if he knew Hermione thought he was dead, why has he been hanging around this past week? There's something else at play here, I know it."

"We all know there's only one way to find out for sure," Harry said. "We have to go and talk to Malfoy."

"Are you going to tell Hermione before you go?" Ginny asked. She understood why Ron and Harry wanted answers before they spoke to Hermione, but she hated keeping something so big from her best friend.

"No, we'll talk to her once we come back," Ron answered. "By then we'll hopefully have some proper answers for her."

"How are you going to explain hopping off to France for a few hours?" Ginny asked as she got up to start sorting dinner.

"We'll just say we've got something to do for work," Harry answered. "If we go on Saturday, maybe you could do something with Hermione. I think she needs a bit of reassurance that she's not going crazy."

"Maybe we can go to a spa," Ginny mused. One of the girls from her team had mentioned a new spa which was supposedly really good, so maybe she and Hermione could have a day of relaxation and pampering.

"Try mentioning it over dinner," Ron suggested as he also got to his feet. "I going to go and grab a shower. See you in a few hours, and remember we don't say a word to Hermione."

"Our lips are sealed," Harry promised as he scooped up the papers they'd been using and tidied them away before Ron returned with Hermione so they could all have dinner together.

 ** _000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000_**

As Hermione got ready to go to dinner at the Potters, her mind was firmly in the past. All her visions of Draco had brought her memories of him to the surface and she couldn't think of anything else. All she could think about was the stolen moments they'd shared, and all the moments they'd missed out on. While she had some amazing memories, and had shared some truly memorable experiences with Draco, she was always saddened when she thought of what they'd missed out on. A secret romance, with a few snatched hours here and there, was nothing compared to the fulfilling relationship they'd had to look forward to.

Still thinking about Draco, Hermione removed the necklace she always wore and stared down at the delicate silver 'H'. The necklace had been a gift from Draco, before they'd even become a couple, and it was one of her most precious possessions. She also had other things she'd received from him, but the necklace was the only thing she kept on her almost the entire time.

"What do I do, Draco?" She whispered, looking down at the necklace and remembering the day he'd given it to her. "How do I let you go and move on?"

She knew that Draco wouldn't have wanted her to still be hung up on him after all these years, as it was a discussion they'd had in sixth year. Hermione had been horrified that Draco had been insistent that if anything ever happened to him she was to move on, find someone else and be happy, but she could now see where he was coming from. It wasn't healthy to still be hung up on her first love to the extent that she was having visions of him.

"Maybe Harry's right," Hermione muttered to herself as she walked over to her jewellery box and placed the necklace inside. "Maybe I need to let go of the past for good."

Picking out a fresh necklace, which Ron had bought for her, Hermione slipped it on and finished getting ready. As she did so, she thought about how she could say a final goodbye to Draco. Under normal circumstance she would have visited his grave, but she had no idea where he was buried. She couldn't even take a trip to someplace that was meaning full to them, because their entire relationship had occurred at Hogwarts. It was hardly appropriate to go up to the school and ask McGonagall if she could visit some of the places she and Draco used to spend time together.

Hermione still didn't have any ideas on saying final goodbye to Draco, when she heard the floo network sound. Slipping into her shoes, she headed into the front room to greet Ron. Since they were heading out, Ron refused Hermione's offer of a drink and the pair headed to the Potters.

"I love your dress, Hermione," Ginny gushed as she gave her friend a hug. "Is it new?"

"Not really," Hermione replied. "I've had it a while, and I'm sure you've seen it before."

"Probably," Ginny said with a light-hearted laugh.

"Do you want a drink, Hermione?" Harry called from the other side of the room.

"Of course we want drinks, Harry," Ginny tutted at her husband. "I've got a bottle of wine chilling in the fridge."

While Harry and Ron went to sort the drinks, Hermione and Ginny settled down on the sofa to catch up. Hermione knew that Ginny was aware of her visions, as she'd told Ron to tell Harry that he could confide in his wife when they'd talked, but thankfully the subject never cropped up. Instead the two witches chatted about mutual friends, and various occurrences in the Weasley family.

By the time the foursome headed into the Potters dining room to eat, the conversation was flowing naturally and Hermione had all but forgotten about her visions. At times like these, where the four of them were just hanging out together, Hermione felt as though she was fully in control of her life. It was only when she thought about getting married to someone who wasn't Draco that things went wrong and she became unsure of herself.

"Are you doing anything on Saturday, Hermione?" Ginny asked as the group headed back into the front room after dinner.

"I don't think so," Hermione replied, before she turned to Ron. "Unless, we have plans."

"No plans," Ron said. "In actual fact, Harry and I have to work on Saturday. We have to go and talk to someone in regards to our case. It'll probably be an all day job."

"In that case, I'm free," Hermione said as she turned back to Ginny. "I take it you have plans for us."

"I do," Ginny replied with a smile. "There's a new spa opened up just outside of London. I thought we could book ourselves in and have a day of pampering."

"It sounds good to me," Hermione said, smiling back at her friend. "A bit of pampering sounds like just what I need."

"Excellent, I'll sort it all out," Ginny said.

"So is this case anything interesting?" Hermione asked Harry and Ron.

"Not really," Harry said with a dismissive shake of his head. "You know what it's like, not much interesting happens at work."

"I don't really believe that," Hermione replied with a chuckle, knowing that both Harry and Ron had plenty of exciting stories to tell about their lives as Aurors.

"This isn't one of our interesting cases," Ron said. "Although last month we did interview a parrot as a witness to a murder."

After telling the story about the parrot that witnessed his owner's murder, Harry and Ron kept the topic away from what they were doing on Saturday. Hermione would find out what they were doing soon enough, and hopefully by then they'd have a few more answers for her. They were certainly hoping their trip to France provided them with some answers, and didn't just produce a pile more questions.

* * *

 **A/N - Thanks for all the great reviews. I'm glad people are enjoying the story, and I'm pleased people are liking the Ron I've wrote in this one. I can't say I'm the biggest fan of Ron's (or certain other Weasleys), and it's all too easy to write him as an immature arsehole who refuses to act like an adult, but every once in a while it's nice to write a different side of him. I know people are also eager for Draco to arrive and for his side of the story to be revealed - and that will be happening over the course of the next few chapters.**


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six.**

"Whoa, what a place," Ron declared as he and Harry walked up the long driveway that led to Draco's house.

The pair had arrived at the French Ministry that morning via portkey, and they'd then taken a second portkey to the region of France where Draco lived. Armed with his address, and directions from a local, the pair easily found the large house Draco resided in. The entire house looked to be housed all on one floor, but that didn't stop it from looking spectacular, at least from the outside. Although judging by the beautiful garden at the front of the house, Harry and Ron expected something special inside as well. After all, the Malfoys had never been known for living modestly.

"Why does one man need such a large house?" Harry mused as they approached the door.

"It's Malfoy, Harry, I doubt he knows how to live in modest surroundings," Ron replied.

"Are you ready?" Harry checked as he raised his fist to knock on the door.

Ron took a couple of deep breaths, before he told Harry to knock on the door. Inside his emotions were all over the place as he prepared to face the man that still held Hermione's heart. A big part of him wished he could return home and pretend all this had never happened, but he could never do that to Hermione. For her sake, they had to find out the truth, no matter how painful it was for him.

Less than a minute after Harry knocked on the door, it was opened and the two Aurors were greeted by a house elf wearing what looked like a child's dress. Harry and Ron were both shocked to see Draco employed a free elf, obviously his time with Hermione had changed his views on certain things.

"We're here to see Draco Malfoy," Harry told the elf. "We're Aurors from Britain."

"Come in," The elf squeaked, stepping back and allowing the two men to enter the large entrance hall. "Mr Malfoy will be with you shortly."

"He was expecting us?" Ron asked with a frown.

"He knew we had visitors the second you crossed the property line," The elf replied. "And may I ask your names."

"Harry Potter and Ron Weasley," Harry supplied.

The elf's small eyes widened momentarily, before she smiled at the pair and asked them to follow her. The elf led them into a luxurious, living area, and vowed to be back with refreshments before disappearing with a pop. Left alone, Harry and Ron looked around the living room they'd been settled in. The room was only slightly smaller than Ron's entire flat, and while they could tell everything was expensive and the place looked very elegant, it lacked any sort of personal touch. There wasn't one thing in the room that gave them any hint of what sort of person lived there. If they didn't know it was Draco's home, they never would have been able to guess.

The pair were still looking around the place when the elf reappeared carrying a tray of tea and biscuits. Placing the tray down on the glass coffee table in the centre of the room, she let them know that Draco was on his way before she disappeared again. Deciding they might as well sit down, Harry and Ron settled on the larger of the two sofas. They'd only been sitting a few minutes when they heard movement outside the room and the door to the living room slowly opened.

When Draco entered the room, both men couldn't help but stare at the man they'd thought was dead for the last seven years. Some things about Draco hadn't changed, including his distinctive platinum blond hair, pale complexion and the fact he was immaculately dressed in a pair of dark trousers and a dark blue shirt. However, there was one major difference between the man in front of them and the boy they'd known. Draco now walked with a cane. As he entered the room, it was clear he had an issue with his left leg, and the cane he was using was a necessity, not just a prop as his father's had been.

"Somehow when Pixie mentioned there was two Aurors here to see me, I didn't think it would be you two," Draco commented as he made his way into the room and settled himself on the smaller sofa opposite the two men.

Both Harry and Ron opened their mouths to speak, but neither of them could find the words. Not only had they forgotten to talk about the best way to approach things, but they were totally thrown off by seeing Draco. After thinking he was dead for so long, it was like being in the presence of a ghost.

"Silence? It's not like you two," Draco said. Pulling his wand from his pocket, he summoned himself a cup of tea from the table. "For as long as I've known you, you've always had something to say."

"I guess we're just in shock," Harry finally managed.

Draco frowned at the pair. "Shock? Why, because I can walk?"

"Why would we be shocked about that?" Ron questioned.

"You don't know," Draco said quietly as he studied the pair as if trying to work out if they were being genuine.

"Don't know what?" Harry asked.

"After I woke from my coma, I was given a less than twenty percent chance of ever walking again. For almost two years I couldn't walk at all, and even now I can't walk without my cane."

"We had no idea," Harry said.

"She didn't say?" Draco questioned.

"Who didn't say?" Ron asked with a frown.

"Hermione," Draco answered. For a moment both Harry and Ron saw a look of intense pain flicker over the blond's features, but he quickly pulled himself together and returned to his usual stoic self.

"Hermione didn't know," Harry told the blond.

"She did," Draco snorted. "It was the first thing I found out when I woke up. The other stuff, I discovered after she'd left me."

"Other stuff?" Harry questioned at the same time Ron gave an undignified snort.

"Left you? Is that what you think happened? Hermione, didn't bloody leave you, she thought you were dead."

"What are you on about?" Draco snapped, glaring at Ron.

"This is why we're here," Harry said, jumping in before things got out of hand. "A week after you were admitted to St Mungo's, Hermione went to visit you and was told you'd died in the night. We now know it was the day after you'd been transferred to the clinic in France. But for the last seven years, Hermione, and all of us, have thought you were dead."

Draco shook his head in disbelief. Placing his cup down on the side table beside the sofa, he grabbed his cane and got to his feet. Harry and Ron thought he was going to leave the room, but instead he walked over to the window and stood staring out at the garden. When he spoke, it was clear he'd moved so that neither Harry nor Ron could see how shaken he was by what they were saying.

"Do you think this is funny?" He asked in a quiet voice. "Do you think it's funny to come here and taunt me? Do you not think I've suffered enough? Did you really have to come here and play games with me?"

"We're not playing games," Harry insisted. "Hermione was told you were dead. She's spent the last seven years grieving for you. In fact she still thinks you're dead, we haven't told her what we've discovered yet."

"Don't lie to me," Draco yelled, turning back around and glaring hatefully at the two wizards. "I don't know what you're playing at, but I'm not buying it. Hermione knows I'm not dead, she was there when I awoke from my coma. She walked out on me and broke my heart. So don't come crawling round here, telling me your lies."

"No-one's telling lies," Ron argued, even though he was taken aback by Draco's wild claims. "Trust me, Hermione thinks you're dead."

"Trust me, Hermione left me hours after I'd woken up from my coma," Draco shot back.

"Perhaps we should all calm down and have a serious talk," Harry suggested. His head was spinning as he tried to make sense of everything, and all the shouting wasn't helping. "We know we're telling the truth, but I also think Malfoy's telling the truth as well."

"Harry," Ron scolded, turning to his friend in disgust. "You know Hermione didn't do what he's accusing her of. She never would have walked away from him. She was at home with us, grieving for him."

"I know, and that's why we need to talk," Harry said to his friend, before looking over at Draco. "Please, Malfoy, just hear us out. We'll tell you our story, and you can tell us yours. We can then try and work out what happened."

Draco turned back away from the pair as he nodded his head. "Fine, we can talk. But it won't change anything. I know what happened."

Making his way back over to the sofa, Draco regained his seat and picked his tea back up. Realising it was going cold, he magically reheated it along with the two cups on the table. Thanking Draco, Harry picked up the two cups and handed one over to Ron.

"Since this was your idea, Potter, you can go first," Draco said.

Harry nodded, and checking with Ron it was okay if he told the story, he began to tell Draco what had happened following the battle of Hogwarts. He explained how the blond had been admitted to St Mungo's and how Hermione had visited him every day, sometimes even two or three times a day. He then told Draco about how Hermione had gone to see him one morning, and what she'd been told by the healer. Finally, he mentioned events of the past week and how they'd discovered Draco was still alive.

"And you never questioned what she was told?" Draco asked, raising a sceptical eyebrow at the pair. He wasn't sure if he believed them, even though they seemed genuine enough.

"Why would we?" Ron asked. "You were in a bad way, and the healers had been very clear on the fact you might not make it. We all just thought the worst had happened."

"I still don't get how you can have spent seven years thinking I was dead," Draco said with a confused shake of his head. "All it would take was one word to the right person, and you would find out I was alive."

"Who would we have spoken to?" Harry asked. "Hermione was asked to stay away from the funeral, and none of us were overly surprised by that request. And it's not as if we ran in the same social circles. None of our friends would have known you were alive, and it wasn't as if we saw many of your friends. To be honest, Hermione was the only person in our lives affected by your death. We didn't have any need to mention it to anyone else."

Draco sat for a minute, before accepting what the pair were saying. He could see why they never knew he was alive, providing of course they weren't telling him a pack of lies to mess with his head. He was starting to lean towards the fact they were telling the truth, except for the fact what they were telling him directly contradicted his own memories and what he knew about the months after the final battle.

"So now we've told you our story, why don't you tell us yours," Ron prompted. Unlike Harry, he thought Draco was just spewing out a pack of lies to cover for the fact he'd been complicit in letting Hermione think he was dead.

"I have to admit, the beginning bit is just what I've been told from my family and friends. I was in a coma, so I was hardly aware of what happened," Draco began. "About a week after the battle, my parents moved me to a private clinic in France. I was in a coma for another six weeks after my transfer. My parents and friends visited me, and that includes Hermione. You can speak to any of my friends or my parents, and they'll confirm she came to visit me at least once a week."

"But she didn't," Ron protested. "For weeks after she found out you were dead, she didn't even leave the house. She was in no fit state to travel to France or anywhere, she was a complete mess."

"Ron, let Malfoy finish," Harry said, placing a calming hand on his friend's arm.

"As I was saying, Hermione was among my visitors when I was in the coma," Draco continued as though he'd never been interrupted. "When I woke up, the healers told me it was unlikely I'd ever walk again. They also ran a pile more tests, but none of the results were in when Hermione came to see me. I hadn't even been awake for twenty four hours when she arrived, but I insisted they let her in. She told me she was pleased I was awake and would hopefully be alright. But then she told me that she wouldn't be visiting me again. She told me that she loved me, but she couldn't spend the rest of her life with a cripple. She said her life was back in Britain, and that I should stay in France and forget about her."

"As if Hermione would have ever said that," Ron exploded.

While Ron was losing his temper, Harry was studying Draco closely. When he'd spoke, his voice had been emotionless, but now he was just sitting and Harry could see the pain in his grey eyes. Harry was in no doubt that sitting in front of them was a broken man, who'd likely never recovered from having his heart shattered by the witch he loved. Instinct told Harry that Draco was telling the truth, and everything he'd just told them had happened.

"This just proves it," Ron continued. "He's lying. He knew Hermione thought he was dead, and he was happy to go along with it."

"I don't think so Ron," Harry said gently. "I believe Malfoy."

"You honestly think Hermione said all that to him?" Ron asked in disbelief. "Because if you do, you don't know Hermione very well at all. In fact, if he honestly believes that, he never knew her very well either."

"It's not about knowing Hermione," Harry said. "Put yourself in Malfoy's shoes. If you'd just woken up from a coma, and discovered you may never walk again, then the woman you love arrives and ends things, would you question it? I know I would have been thinking that she would be better off without me."

"Thank you, Potter," Draco said quietly. "That's exactly what I thought. I knew my life would never be the same, and when Hermione left me, part of me thought it was what was best for her. I figured she deserved more than to be stuck with a cripple."

Ron was quiet for several minutes as he digested what Harry and Draco were saying. As he calmed down, he could see they were right. Given the state Draco must have been in, they couldn't blame him for not realising Hermione wouldn't ever act like that. There was no way she would have walked away from him, even if he had been unlikely to walk again.

"I'm sorry for losing my temper," Ron eventually offered. "I'm just struggling to understand all this. If you're telling the truth, and we're telling the truth, then we have a major problem. Someone, somewhere has totally played you and Hermione. Either that or Hermione is a liar, and I refuse to believe that."

"Hermione isn't a liar," Harry insisted. "She thought Malfoy was dead, I know that."

"She really thought I was dead?" Draco asked in a shaky voice. Both Harry and Ron looked at the blond half expecting to see him on the verge of tears, but his shaky voice was the only sign of the turmoil he must be feeling.

"Yes," Harry said softly. "She was devastated. You were her world, and for a long time she could barely function."

"But she moved on," Draco said sadly as he glanced towards Ron. Even though he'd once told Hermione to move on if anything ever happened to him, it was still immensely painful to know that was what she'd done. Although, if he had been dead, he would have been pleased that she'd moved on with her life.

"In a manner of speaking," Ron said with a sigh. "I don't fool myself into thinking I'm the love of her life, because I know I'm not. Yes, I believe she loves me, but it's nothing compared to what she still feels for you."

"So what happens now?" Harry asked.

"I believe that is down to Weasley," Draco replied. "He's Hermione's fiancé, and I think he should make the decision about what happens next. I would like to get to the bottom of this and find out who lied to who and who was tricked. But I won't force my presence in Hermione's life. I'll understand if you want to keep me out of things."

"You don't want her back?" Ron looked at Draco in disbelief.

"More than anything," Draco confessed. "But the choice isn't mine. I won't do anything to hurt Hermione, and since she seems happy with you, I won't interfere."

"As much as I would love to keep this to myself and keep you apart, I can't," Ron said with a long drawn out sigh. "I think we need to tell her everything, and once she's in the loop we can look at everything we know and find out who did this and why."

With Ron's decision made, he and Harry got up to leave. They vowed to be in touch with Draco when they spoke to Hermione, and they promised they would get to the bottom of what had happened. Together they would find out what had happened, and then they could begin the complicated job of sorting out their tangled personal lives.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven.**

When Hermione returned home to her flat after spending an amazingly relaxing day with Ginny at the spa, she didn't expect to find Ron in her front room. At first, she was more than happy to see her fiancé, but it took less than a minute for her to work out something was wrong. Ron looked incredibly sombre, and when Hermione gave him a hug he barely reacted.

"Is everything okay?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"There's something I need to talk to you about," Ron said seriously. "But first, how was your day?"

"Up until a minute ago, it was great," Hermione replied. "What's going on, Ron?"

"I really have no idea how to say this," Ron muttered as he got to his feet and began to pace in front of the fireplace. "You might want to sit down, Hermione."

"Only if you also sit down," Hermione said.

Taking hold of Hermione's hand, Ron led them over to the sofa. When they were sat down, he kept her hand in his, his fingers twirling at the engagement ring on her left hand.

"Ron." Hermione's other hand settled over Ron's, effectively ending his nervous twirling of her ring. "Just tell me what's wrong."

Looking up at his fiancée, Ron found he had no idea where to start. What he had to tell Hermione would blow her entire world apart. Hell, it was going to blow his world apart, but she had to know the truth. She had to know that seven years ago someone had manipulated her, and turned her entire life on its head with a cruel lie.

"Now you're scaring me," Hermione said softly. "Please Ron, tell me what's wrong?"

"It's about Malfoy," Ron said, taking a deep breath. "After what happened last week, Harry thought it might help if you went to visit his grave."

"I had thought about that myself, but I don't know where he's buried," Hermione admitted. "Given the fact I was asked to stay away from the funeral, I doubt his parents will tell me if I tried to contact them."

"Harry also didn't know where he was buried, but he decided to go another route. He asked Kingsley if he could find out where the grave was."

"I never would have thought of that," Hermione admitted. "Could Kingsley help?"

"He couldn't tell Harry when Malfoy was buried," Ron answered. "Because he's not buried anywhere. In fact, he's not even dead."

Hermione pulled her hand out of Ron's hold and glared at her fiancé. "That's not funny, Ron."

"I'm not being funny, Hermione," Ron said quietly. "I'm telling you what happened. When Harry went to talk to Kingsley, he discovered that Malfoy wasn't dead."

"No." Getting to her feet, Hermione shook her head stubbornly as she backed away from Ron. "He died. I lost him seven years ago."

"No, the healer lied to you," Ron explained patiently. "The night before you went to the hospital, Malfoy was moved to a private clinic in France. He was there for a few months, before he woke up."

"Draco's alive?" Hermione asked as tears began to roll down her cheeks. "And he's awake."

"He is," Ron confirmed with a nod. It was rather heart-breaking to see how much Hermione was affected by his revelations, but it was what he'd been expecting. "I don't know all the details about his health, but I do know he's up and about. He does walk with a cane these days."

"You've seen him?" Hermione gasped, her question sounding more like a statement.

Ron nodded in confirmation. "That's where Harry and I were today. We wanted to try and get some answers before we told you anything."

"You thought he was involved," Hermione accused as she swept away the tears that stained her face. "You thought he pretended he was dead and lied to me."

"It did cross my mind," Ron admitted. "But now I've spoken to him, I don't believe that. In fact, he was manipulated just like you."

"I think I need a drink," Hermione muttered as she stalked out of the front room.

Ron was taken aback by Hermione's departure, but before he managed to get up and go after her she returned with a bottle of wine and two glasses. Opening the wine, she poured two large glasses and handed one to Ron. She then settled herself down on the chair opposite, which Ron had to admit stung slightly.

"I want the full story," She demanded.

"We're still trying to build a complete picture, but I can tell you what we know," Ron said. "After Malfoy was transferred, his healer told you he was dead. The healer then left the hospital a few weeks later. We think the whole thing was a set up with him, and the medi-witch who you didn't know. Anyway, while you were grieving for Malfoy, he was still in his coma in France. Now this is where things get tricky, according to him, you visited him while he was still in his coma, and the day after he woke up, you ended things with him. He's been living these last seven years thinking you didn't want to be with him because he was told he might never walk again."

"That's horrid," Hermione whispered. "Who would do this to us?"

"We don't know, yet," Ron answered. "But I promise you, Hermione, we will find out."

"So while I thought Draco was dead, he thought I was a heartless cow who'd left him," Hermione said with a sob.

"He didn't think that," Ron said, not quite sure if he was lying or not. Getting up, he moved over to where Hermione was sitting and pulled her into a hug. "Whoever did this caught you both at vulnerable times. You'd been worrying about Malfoy for a week, and were barely functioning. If you'd been sharper, you might have asked more questions or demanded to go to the funeral. It was the same for Malfoy. He'd just woken up from a coma, he'd been told he would likely never walk again and they were running more tests to see if there was anything else wrong. His head was a mess, and then someone posing as you walked in and ended your relationship. Again, if he'd been sharper he would have questioned it, but they caught him at his weakest, just like they did with you."

Hermione nodded as she let herself take comfort from Ron's embrace. She was still struggling to comprehend the enormity of what was happening, so she focused on the tiny details. Releasing that Ron had said someone had posed as her, she question him about it.

"We don't know that for sure, but in my opinion it's the only explanation," Ron said. "We know you weren't going to visit Malfoy, as you barely left the house. Therefore, someone else was posing as you, and as soon as it was possible they ended things with Draco and he never saw you again."

"Basically, whoever is behind this just wanted to split us up," Hermione whispered.

"It looks like it," Ron replied.

"Whoever it is, they're cruel and they don't care about either Draco or I," Hermione said with an angry snarl. "No-one who really cares about either one of us would do something that would cause us so much pain."

"I fully agree there," Ron said. "Whoever is behind this is wicked, and they didn't care about either your pain or Malfoy's. All they cared about was separating you, and they didn't care about the price of that separation."

"What do we do now Ron?" Hermione asked warily as she looked up at her fiancé. She didn't know how she could tell him she wanted to see Draco. Even though she was still struggling to believe he was still alive, her entire being was screaming out to be reunited with him.

"We find out what happened," Ron said with a sad smile. "But before all of that, you're going to go and see Malfoy. Or he can come and see you, whichever you want."

"I want to see him, but I don't want to hurt you," Hermione said softly. "I love you, Ron."

"I love you too, Hermione," Ron returned as he took hold of her hand in his. "But we both know I'm not the only man you love. It was different when we thought Malfoy was gone, but now he's back and we need to deal with it. That's why, I'm releasing you."

Hermione frowned at Ron's meaning, but before she could open her mouth he'd gently removed her engagement ring from her finger. When she did open her mouth to say something, Ron gently placed his finger over his lips and shook his head. Closing her mouth again, she let her fiancé speak.

"I will always love you, Hermione, and if you chose me, I'll be the happiest man alive. But if you chose me it has to be for the right reasons. I can't play second best now we know he's alive. However, if your heart still lies with Malfoy and you want to be with him, I wish you all the luck in the world, and I'll still be there as your best friend. You take as long as you need to sort this out in your head. Even if it takes you months to make a decision, it doesn't matter. Take the time you need, and follow your heart. No matter what, you won't lose me."

By the time Ron had finished speaking, Hermione had fresh tears falling down her face. She'd always known Ron had loved her, but until this minute she'd had no idea just how much. The fact he was giving her the freedom to choose meant everything to Hermione and she knew even if they didn't end up together, Ron would always own a piece of her heart.

"I don't know what to say," She confessed through her tears.

"I just want you to be happy, Hermione," Ron said, using his thumb to brush away the tears that were staining her cheeks. "And from the conversation we had with Malfoy, I think he feels the same way. I know I won't push you into making any decisions, and I'm fairly sure he won't."

"So what happens now?" Hermione whispered.

"Now we arrange for you to see Malfoy," Ron said. "Do you want to go to him, or do you want him to come to you?"

"I'm not sure," Hermione confessed. "Didn't you say he walked with a cane? Would it be easier if I went to him?"

"Possibly," Ron replied. "To be honest, I got the feeling there was more wrong with him then he let on. Maybe going to him would be best."

"Then arrange it," Hermione said softly. "And can you please make it as soon as possible?"

"I'll see what I can do." Dropping a kiss to Hermione's forehead, Ron got to his feet and promising to be back soon, he headed to his own flat.

The second Ron was gone, Hermione broke down in tears as she tried to get her head around everything that had happened. She couldn't believe her entire life had been tampered with by some unknown person, but what made her angrier was the fact they'd dragged innocent people like Ron into things. No matter what happened next, Ron had been irrevocably hurt by what had happened, and deep down she knew he would likely end up hurt even more before this was all over. Chances were they were all in for more pain as the fallout to what had happened seven years ago continued.

Hermione had only just started to calm down when Ron reappeared in the flat. Settling back down beside her, he explained that he'd been in contact with Draco and if she wanted, they could go and visit him the following day.

"Will you be with me?" Hermione asked, her nerves evident in her voice.

"I'll accompany you to France, and take you to Malfoy's place, but I probably won't hang around," Ron replied. "The pair of you need to talk, and you need to do that alone. After that we can then all meet up and discuss where we go next."

"Do you have any ideas?" Hermione asked.

"To be honest, I'm too exhausted to even think about it," Ron admitted. "But Harry and I will have a talk, possibly tomorrow while you're with Malfoy, and we'll work out our next move."

"Thank you, Ron," Hermione said, leaning forward and giving the redhead a peck on the cheek. "You didn't have to tell me any of this, but I'm grateful that you did."

"I wasn't going to keep this from you," Ron insisted. "Even if it means the end of our relationship, you have the right to know what's going on. There's no way I could have kept you in the dark and carried on as though nothing had changed."

"I really appreciate your honesty," Hermione said quietly. "I'm just sorry, you've ended up hurt."

"I'm sorry we've all ended up hurt," Ron said with a small sigh. "You should get some rest Hermione. Tomorrow will be a big day, you're going to need a good night's sleep."

"Somehow, I don't think that's going to happen," Hermione remarked with a rueful laugh as she got to her feet. "I'm not sure it's possible to sleep with everything that's flying around in my head.

"Tell me about it," Ron replied. Giving Hermione a hug, and letting her know what time he would be picking her up, he headed back to his own flat.

Hermione watched Ron leave, before she topped up her wineglass and headed into her bedroom. Placing the glass of wine down on her bedside table, she rummaged in the wardrobe until she found the small wooden box where she'd kept her mementoes of her relationship with Draco. Settling down on the bed with the box, Hermione opened it for the first time in years as she contemplated the fact she would soon be seeing him again. After years of thinking she had lost him, she would see him again, and she had no idea how she would react when she set eyes on him. Would they still love each other, or had too much time passed for them to even stand a chance of happiness? All Hermione knew was that in a few hours she would potentially have some of the answers, and until then all she could do was wait and speculate on what would happen when she came face to face with her first love.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight.**

Hermione was a bag of nerves, and practically hyperventilating by the time she and Ron reached Draco's house. As she'd predicted, her sleep the previous night had been anything but restful. After tossing and turning most of the night, she'd gotten up at the crack of dawn and proceeded to spend hours trying to sort out what to wear. By the time Ron had turned up, she'd tried on almost everything she owned and her bedroom was a pigsty. Luckily Ron had talked some sense into her, and she'd settled for going with a pair of comfortable jeans and a simple purple and black top. However, that still left her nervous about seeing Draco for the first time in seven years.

"He's going to think you've changed your mind if we don't knock on the door soon," Ron remarked. He'd let Hermione have a couple of minutes to gather her thoughts at the doorstep, but she was taking so long he figured it was best to intervene.

"Maybe he'll just think we're late," Hermione replied in a shaky voice.

"He knew we arrived the minute we entered his property," Ron explained. "The longer you hesitate, the more uncertain he's going to be about seeing you."

With a determined nod, Hermione reached out and rapped on the large front door. Within a second the door was opened by the same little elf that had greeted Harry and Ron the previous day. Smiling at the pair, Pixie ushered them inside and informed Ron that Draco was waiting in the same living room they'd used the previous day. Taking hold of a clearly nervous Hermione's hand, Ron led her to the room him and Harry had spoken to Draco in the previous day.

"Are you ready?" He asked when they reached the room.

Hermione nodded, but couldn't manage to speak as Ron pushed the door open and led her into the room. Normally Hermione would take notice of her surroundings, but all her attention was focused on the man standing beside the large windows. Hermione felt as though all the oxygen left her body as she finally came face to face with Draco. The last seven years had only heighted his good looks, and it wasn't until he began to walk forward that she even registered the cane at his side.

"Hermione," He whispered, his grey eyes brimming with unshed tears.

Letting go of Ron's hand, Hermione slowly moved towards Draco. When she was standing directly in front of him, she gently reached out and cupped his cheek in her hand. The second their skin came into contact, Hermione's tears began to fall. Despite everything Ron had told her, she didn't really believe Draco was alive until she'd seen him with her own eyes.

"Draco," She gasped, forgetting herself and throwing her arms around him.

Draco's cane fell to the thick carpet as he wrapped his arms around Hermione, and buried his head in her thick hair. Wrapped in Draco's arms, Hermione sobbed quietly as she was reunited with her long lost love. Draco himself was close to tears as he thought about the torture Hermione had been through for the last seven years, but he managed to control himself.

Over the other side of the room, Ron watched the couple with a lump in his throat. As much as he loved Hermione and wanted to remain with her, he knew in his heart that she belonged with Draco. Just watching them together brought back memories of the embrace he'd witness between them during the final battle. He'd know then that Hermione had found her other half, and watching them now just confirmed it.

Clearing his throat, he caught the pair's attention. "I'll be leaving now. Hermione, will you be okay to get home?"

"Yes. Thank you Ron," Hermione said, giving him a smile as she swiped at her tears.

"You can use my floo connection if you want," Draco offered.

"That would be nice, thank you," Ron replied.

"Pixie," Draco called, and his house elf appeared in the middle of the room. "Please take Mr Weasley to the floo room. He'd going to use the floo connection to head home. And when you're finished, could you get us some tea please."

"Of course, Master Draco," Pixie said as she turned to Ron and led him out of the room once he'd said another quick goodbye to Hermione.

Pulling his wand from his pocket, Draco retrieved his cane from the floor.

"I'm sorry did I hurt you?" Hermione questioned, feeling bad for forgetting about Draco needing a cane.

"No, I'm fine," Draco replied. "Do you want to sit down?"

Hermione and Draco had just settled down on the sofa when Pixie reappeared and placed a tray of tea and biscuits on the coffee table. Once she confirmed Ron had left without a hitch, she disappeared, leaving the pair alone to deal with their past.

"I still don't think I believe this," Hermione whispered, unable to take her eyes off Draco.

"Tell me about it," Draco replied, also unable to look away from Hermione. "I never thought I would see you again."

"You saw me last week," Hermione pointed out. "In fact, you gave me a hell of a scare. I thought I was losing my mind."

"I'm so sorry," Draco said, feeling bad for putting Hermione through hell the previous week. "If I'd known, I never would have gone anywhere near you."

"Why did you?" Hermione asked. "From what Ron said, you thought I'd left you? Why were you hanging around?"

"I guess I'm a masochist," Draco said with a shrug as he picked up his tea. "I was visiting Theo and he mentioned your engagement." Subconsciously, he glanced down at Hermione's hand and was shocked to find no sign of an engagement ring. "He also mentioned your shop, and I guess I was curious so I went to Diagon Alley to check it out."

"But I only saw you at the shop once," Hermione said.

"I only visited the shop once," Draco said. "The first day I was going to visit the shop, I was walking past a café and spotted you. When you turned round and saw me, I didn't know what to do so I left. I then visited your shop a few days later, and I was going to go in until I spotted you coming down the stairs. When I saw you, I knew I couldn't face you so I left."

"And what about the restaurant?" Hermione asked. "Why were you there?"

"I wanted to see if you were happy," Draco confessed. "Theo had gone to some sort of charity function and heard Weasley mention he had a booking at the restaurant. I couldn't resist having a peek and seeing if you were happy."

"And what did you decide?" Hermione questioned, wondering what her relationship with Ron looked like from the outside.

"I decided you were," Draco replied. "And before you ask, I was happy for you."

"Why?" Hermione frowned, not sure why Draco was happy for her after thinking she'd cruelly abandoned him when he needed her the most. "As far as you were concerned, I walked out on you. Why would you want me to be happy?"

"Because I love you," Draco confessed in a quiet voice. "And despite what you might think, I didn't hate you for leaving me. I completely understood the reason the imposter used for leaving me."

"You understood that I would leave you because you might never walk again?" Hermione questioned in disbelief. "How could you even think I would do such an awful thing?"

"First, I understood because you deserved better than being stuck with a cripple," Draco answered. "And as for how I believed the imposter, I've being thinking about it a lot since I spoke to Potter and Weasley. Looking back, I should have known it wasn't you, but at the time I was a mess. I'd only been awake a few hours, and I'd been told I likely wouldn't walk again. They were also testing me for all sorts of other things, and I knew I was never going to be the same again. I suppose I always thought it was best for you not to be obligated to me."

"I would never have felt that way," Hermione insisted, reaching over and taking Draco's hand in hers. "I still don't. I don't care that you're not the same physically, you're still the same person inside. Who you are doesn't change, because you have trouble walking."

"It's so much more than that," Draco said with a snort. "I couldn't walk for almost two years, and even now I struggle in the really cold weather. My left leg has some pretty bad scarring, and I'm more likely to break that leg than any other limb."

"Draco, none of that matters to me," Hermione insisted.

"I haven't finished yet," Draco said. "I can't have children, and there's a chance I can't even perform sexually."

"A chance? You mean you don't know?"

Draco shrugged and looked away from Hermione in embarrassment. "There's never been anyone else," He admitted in a small voice. "So basically, I have no real idea about how I can perform in the bedroom."

Hermione gently reached out and turned Draco's head back to face her. "Draco, I don't care. I wouldn't have cared back then, and I don't care now."

"Don't, Hermione," Draco said, pulling away from her and getting to his feet. "You deserve someone who can give you everything I can't. Weasley might not be my favourite person, but he loves you, and he can give you the life you deserve. I say we deal with whoever did this, we can say goodbye and you can go back to your happy life."

"You don't want me?" Hermione whispered, tears pooling in her eyes.

"I want you more than anything, but I'm not that selfish," Draco replied fiercely. "It's because I love you, that I'm letting you go. I don't want you to come back because you feel sorry for me."

"If anything happened between us, it would be because I still love you," Hermione said. "Right at this minute, I don't know what I want. I know I love you, and I always will, but I have to think about Ron. I don't want to jump into anything straight away, but I don't want to rule anything out either."

"This is all such a mess," Draco said with a sigh as he re-seated himself on the sofa opposite Hermione. "Part of me just wants to whisk you away, and never let you out of my sight again. But I understand that it's not going to be that easy. I don't want to be the reason you break Weasley's heart. Whatever you decide, Hermione, I'll support you. If you choose him, I'll wish you luck and I really hope you have the amazing life you deserve."

Hermione shed a few more tears as Draco spoke and she compared his sentiments to Ron's. It wasn't lost on her that they'd both said practically the same thing. That her happiness came first, and the choice of what to do was entirely hers.

"Let's leave the future to one side for now," Hermione said as she swiped away the tears that had fallen. "As painful as it is, can I hear what happened with whoever was posing as me?"

"I can do better than that, I can show you," Draco replied. "I could tell you, but maybe it would be better if you viewed the memory for yourself."

"You mean like in a pensieve?" Hermione questioned. Harry had told her about viewing memories in a pensieve, but she'd never experienced it for herself.

"Yes," Draco confirmed. "I try not to think about that day too often, so if you don't mind, I would rather you just viewed it for yourself."

Not wanting to make things harder for Draco, Hermione agreed to view his memories. Getting to his feet, Draco led Hermione out of the living room and to his study. While Draco was preparing the pensieve, Hermione looked around the room and finally spotted some of Draco's essence in the house. The living room was devoid of any sort of personality, even though it was beautifully decorated, but the study was a different matter. There was a few framed pictures on the walls, but the entire room just contained Draco's essence and Hermione knew he'd been totally behind the decoration of the room.

Once the pensive was set up, Draco removed his memory and placed it into the bowl. He then explained to Hermione how it worked, and reassured her that nothing would happen to her while she was viewing the memory. Following Draco's advice, Hermione leant over the pensieve and let the magic suck her in. After a brief period where she felt she was falling, she found herself in Draco's memories.

Hermione found herself standing in a hospital room with decidedly more colour than you found in regular hospitals. In fact, if it wasn't for all the medical equipment, Hermione could have mistaken the room for a fancy hotel suite. Looking at her surroundings didn't take long as her focus soon fell on Draco, who was lying in the bed. He looked far paler than she'd ever seen him, and she watched with tears in her eyes as he frustratingly hit his legs in some sort of attempt to feel something.

"Oh Draco," She whispered, wishing she could provide him with some sort of comfort. It broke her heart knowing he was going through this, and he thought she'd abandoned him.

As if on cue the door opened and the imposter walked into the room. Hermione's heart broke even more when she saw the happiness on Draco's face. It was clear her presence meant the world to him, whereas the imposter remained stony faced as she moved over to the bed and gave Draco a half-hearted peck on the cheek.

"I'm so pleased you're here," Draco said, running his finger down the imposter's cheek.

"I'm pleased you're awake," The imposter replied with a fake smile. "I was so worried."

"At least I survived," Draco said, attempting to appear jovial despite the fact he was suffering.

"Listen Draco, I need to say something and it won't be easy," The imposter said with a sigh. "I won't be back. I love you, but I can't spend my life looking after you. My home is back in England, and you're going to be here for months. I want you to be happy, Draco, and we can't be happy together, not now. I know you'll get back on your feet, and when you do, you'll find happiness. Stay here in France and find your happy ending Draco, because you won't find it with me."

Hermione watched, appalled, as the imposter had the nerve to give Draco one final kiss before she got up and left the room without a second look. In the bed, Draco's shocked expression remained in place until the door shut behind the imposter. His face then crumpled and Hermione began to cry as she watched the man she loved, break down in tears. It really was devastating to witness what he'd been through, and it was clear he'd suffered every bit as much as she had.

Hermione was still crying when she felt herself being pulled upwards and seconds later she was back in Draco's study. The second she saw Draco, she wrapped her arms around him and apologised profusely for not being there for him. Right at this minute all she wanted was to go back in time and be there for Draco as he recovered from the injuries Voldemort had inflicted on him.

"None of this is your fault," Draco said gently as he held onto a sobbing Hermione. "The only person to blame for any of this is whoever orchestrated the entire charade all those years ago. I don't know about you, but I say we need to find them and make them pay for what they've put us through."

Lifting her head and wiping at her tears, Hermione nodded her agreement. It was time to bring back Harry and Ron and work out their next move. Someone had torn apart their lives seven years ago, and Hermione wasn't going to rest until she found out who that person was. It was time to get some answers and find out just who'd been so cruel as to tear them apart so spitefully and why they'd done it in the first place.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine.**

After Draco and Hermione were reunited, it was decided a meeting with Harry and Ron would wait until the following weekend. Not only did all four of them have to work, but it gave them all time to adjust to all the recent revelations. Hermione especially needed time, as not only was she dealing with her former boyfriend coming back from the dead, but there was her current relationship to think about.

Hermione had lunch with Ginny on the Monday, and of course the redhead noticed her lack of engagement ring. Hermione could clearly see Ginny was saddened by what was happening, but at least she understood why Hermione and Ron couldn't just carry on as though nothing had happened. However, Hermione wasn't convinced all of the Weasleys would feel the same, so she'd spent the week avoiding Molly. As for the girls she employed at the shop, she told them one of the stones was loose and it was being fixed, rather than tell them anything that might lead to gossip which would undoubtedly get back to Molly.

All week, Hermione thought about her future. She could just consider dealing with the past, saying goodbye to Draco and carrying on with Ron as though nothing had happened, but she knew that wasn't possible. Now she'd witnessed how the imposter had broken Draco's heart, she really couldn't imagine walking out on him. Even without that heart-breaking image, Hermione still didn't think she had it in her to walk away from Draco. At the end of the day, she was very aware of the fact that no matter what she felt for Ron, it was a mere shadow of the feelings she had for Draco. There was no denying she loved Ron, but she wasn't madly in love with him like she was with Draco.

By the time Hermione met up with Harry and Ron on Saturday afternoon to head back to Draco's, her head was still in a complete mess. She was aware that however she proceeded, someone was going to get hurt. She knew both Draco and Ron would accept whatever she decided, but she still knew that eventually she was going to end up breaking one of their hearts. Most likely Ron's as deep down she already knew she wasn't losing Draco for a second time.

Ginny had wanted to join them in France, but she had quidditch training, so it was just the three of them. Although, she had made Harry promise to tell her everything when he got back from France. Hermione didn't mind that Ginny knew everything as she trusted the redhead to keep quiet. In fact, she half wished her female friend was at her side as she prepared to head back to France and try to get to the bottom of things along with Harry, Ron and Draco.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked, noticing how nervous Hermione appeared to be as Harry set up the international floo connection on his fire.

"I'm fine," Hermione replied with a weak smile. "I'm just eager for answers."

"Aren't we all," Ron muttered.

Once Harry had the connection set up, they double checked the address of Draco's house before heading to France one at a time. Ron went first, followed by Hermione, and Harry brought up the rear. The trio arrived in the room of the house dedicated to floo travel, and they were greeted by the same, smiling house elf.

"Hello," Pixie greeted. "Master Draco is in the living room."

"Thank you, Pixie," Hermione said, giving the elf a smile. She was pleased to see Draco's elf was free and worked for a small wage, rather than being enslaved to him. Obviously some of her lectures in school had paid off and he's listened to her, despite the fact he always argued that house elves didn't want to be free.

While the elf popped off to do whatever else she did, the trio made their way to the living room. Because Ron, and then Hermione, had made the trip last time, they had no problem locating the living room. When they entered the room, they found tea and snacks on the coffee table, while Draco was sitting on the sofa, frowning at some papers he had in his hand.

"We're not interrupting, are we?" Hermione asked, feeling a little guilty when Draco jumped slightly at the sound of her voice.

"Sorry, I just got lost in some work stuff," Draco replied, flicking his wand and sending the papers flying off into a nearby drawer. "Please, sit down."

"How are you doing?" Hermione asked, joining Draco on his sofa while Harry and Ron took seats opposite them.

"I'm okay," Draco answered. "How are you?"

"Coping," Hermione replied with a rueful smile. "What else can I do?"

Watching Hermione and Draco exchange greetings, Harry and Ron could both see the concern and love between them. Even though they acted as though they were nothing but friends, they could both see otherwise. Harry couldn't help but feel sorry for Ron, but at the same time it was nice to see Hermione not looking as haunted. He just hoped that when the dust settled on everything that both his best friends got the happy ending they deserved, even though it was looking increasingly unlikely that it would be together.

"Help yourselves to tea and food," Draco said, making sure to include Harry and Ron. Even though he wanted nothing more than to focus all his attention on Hermione, he knew it would be inappropriate. Things were still incredibly complicated, and he didn't want to do anything to hurt Ron, not after he'd played such a big part in reuniting him with Hermione. "I think Pixie got a bit carried away when I told her I was expecting guests."

"Is that because you don't have many?" Ron asked unthinkingly, before wincing as he realised how rude he sounded. "I didn't mean that to sound so rude," He told Draco with an apologetic grimace. "It was just when we were first investigating what had happened, we couldn't find a lot of details about your life now. It seems as though you live very much in private."

"I do," Draco confirmed. "And don't worry about being rude, I'm sure I've said worse in the past. Besides, you're right, I don't get a lot of visitors. Apart from my parents and friends, I don't see many other people, unless its work related."

"You work from home, don't you?" Harry asked, hoping he wasn't overstepping the mark, but he was curious why Draco ran a successful business from home.

"Most of the time," Draco answered with a nod. "I do have an office in the main office in Paris, but I don't use it that often. Father installed the office here before I could walk again. He thought getting involved with the family business would help give my life purpose."

"Did it?" Hermione asked, her heart aching at the thought that Draco had thought his life had no purpose.

"It did actually," Draco said with a small smile. "After getting out of the hospital, I bought this place and moved in mainly so I could be on my own, well apart from the medi-witch the clinic assigned to me. I was more than happy to mope around here, and I rarely did the physical therapy I was supposed to be doing. But getting working gave me a fresh outlook, and I became determined to walk again. I think without it, I would still be stuck in a wheelchair."

"I'm sure you would have found the motivation somewhere," Hermione said, taking Draco's hand in hers. "You're far too stubborn to have remained stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of your life."

"Luckily that wasn't an issue," Harry said. He hated to break up the moment between the pair, but they had things to discuss. "Sorry to be so abrupt, but we really should press on with why we're here."

"Of course." Draco nodded as Hermione removed her hand from his and picked up her cup of tea. "I think we can all agree that someone was posing as Hermione in France. It was an imposter who kept visiting me, and then later ended things."

"Since it wasn't the real Hermione, that's the only solution," Ron said. Picking up a sandwich, he munched down on it as he tried to ignore the fact they were discussing something so close to them and treat it like any other investigation he and Harry were running.

"As much as I hate to admit it, it means it was someone I trust," Draco said with a sigh.

"Not necessarily," Harry argued. "Anyone could have swiped some hairs from Hermione one time and used polyjuice potion to pose as her. Let's be honest, it's not hard to even bump into someone in the street and pluck a few hairs from their clothes, or even from their head itself."

"I agree it's easy for anyone to get hold of the vital ingredient for polyjuice potion," Draco replied. "But that's not the issue. The problem is, only my parents and closest friends knew exactly where I'd been moved to."

"It was in your medical records," Harry pointed out. "Granted, it's a long shot someone from the hospital was involved, but we can't rule it out. Even someone from the Ministry, could have access to the records considering your father had to get permission to leave the country."

Draco shook his head, not buying Harry's arguments even though there was a semblance of possibility in them. "We all know this is personal. This wasn't something someone did for a laugh, they had a purpose, and that purpose was to end my relationship with Hermione. Like it or not, we're looking for someone who didn't like the fact we were together."

"And considering we didn't share the news with anyone, we have no idea who was opposed to our relationship," Hermione mused.

"What about when you woke up?" Ron asked Draco. "Didn't you get an impression of what your friends and family thought then?"

"Not really," Draco admitted. "The only people I saw before the imposter were Mother and Father. Neither of them mentioned Hermione, and afterwards no-one had anything nice to say about her."

"I'm not surprised," Hermione snarled. "She was a bitch. I don't blame your friends and family for hating me, after they thought I left you so cruelly."

"See, I never got their thoughts on our relationship," Draco concluded. "There were all too busy hating Hermione for breaking my heart."

"Was there anyone that seemed glad about what had happened?" Harry probed. "Or unsurprised?"

"To be honest, I have no idea," Draco admitted. "I wasn't in the best state of mind. I was struggling with my injuries, and I thought Hermione had just walked out on me. I know no-one was impressed by what had happened, but I don't remember anything off about any of them."

"Maybe we need to have a talk with them," Harry mused. "See how they fare against professional Aurors."

"You want to ambush them?" Hermione checked, knowing where Harry was going with his plan.

"Why not?" Harry replied with a smirk. "Malfoy gathers his friends and family, and then we walk in. Someone will react, you can bet on it."

"Yeah, they'll lynch me," Hermione grumbled. "You haven't seen what happened Harry. The imposter was a selfish cow. No wonder anyone who cares about Draco hates me. All you're going to get is hatred."

"Maybe initially," Draco agreed. "But what about once everything calms down and we explain everything. That's when someone is going to get worried."

"Especially if you bring veritiserum into play," Ron added. "If they've got nothing to hide, they won't object to taking some."

"This sounds like a good plan, but I don't want them to think I'm victimising them," Draco said. "I want the truth, but I don't want to alienate the people who've done nothing."

"You won't alienate them if they truly care," Hermione said, once again taking hold of Draco's hand. "Anyone who really loves you, will just want the truth."

"Plus, we can tell them we're planning to do the same with the people close to Hermione," Harry said. "Because let's face it, whoever did this is close to one of you. The way they've done it, it leans more towards them being connected to Malfoy, but we can say we're investigating all possibilities."

"Which we will," Ron added. "If everyone passes the veritiserum test we then look at other options."

"Let's deal with that if the need arises," Draco said. "For now, let's organise how we're going to surprise my friends and family. I would say we could do it tomorrow, but it's too short notice. I know for a fact a few of them are busy."

"Yeah, we can't really do tomorrow either," Ron said. "Mum's expecting us all for lunch. Apparently George has a big announcement."

"All of us?" Hermione questioned, looking apprehensive about facing Molly.

"I can try and make an excuse, but you know what Mum's like," Ron said, giving Hermione a sympathetic smile. "We don't need to tell her anything."

"No, I'll go and we'll tell her the truth," Hermione said, looking less than thrilled at the prospect. "They're going to find out sooner or later, so we might as well get it over with."

Deciding on the following weekend as the time to put their plan into action, the foursome spent a while formalising a plan of attack. An hour later, they had everything sorted. Draco would invite his friends and family over for Sunday lunch, and after lunch the truth would be revealed. One way or another, they were determined to finally know what had happened seven years ago.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten.**

"Are you ready?" Ron asked Hermione, placing a gentle hand on her arm.

"Just give me a minute," Hermione replied in a small voice.

The pair were in Ron's flat, preparing to head to The Burrow for Sunday lunch. They'd discussed what they were going to tell the family, and had decided to tell the truth. Unfortunately, Hermione didn't know how that was going to go down with the family, especially Molly. There was nothing more important to Molly than the happiness of her children, and Hermione suspected she was going to think Hermione was taking away Ron's happiness. After all, marriage was no longer on the agenda for the couple, and even though they'd yet to discuss it Hermione knew that both she and Ron knew that it would never come back on the agenda. Far too much had happened for them to go back to how things were a few weeks previously.

"Hermione," Ron prompted gently. "We have to go, or we're going to be very late."

Hermione nodded, steeling herself for what lay ahead. "Let's go."

Grabbing the floo powder, Ron offered some to Hermione, before he led the way to his childhood home. For one second after Ron left, Hermione contemplated not following him to The Burrow, but she buried the thought and followed him to the Weasleys.

When Hermione arrived at The Burrow, she found the rest of the family were already present. Even Charlie had made the trip from Romania, which was something he didn't do unless it was a special occasion. Hermione did wonder what had brought Charlie home, but then she spotted a beaming Angelina across the room, chatting to Ginny, and remembered what Ron had said about George having an announcement to make. Suddenly, she had a very good idea what George was about to announce.

"Ron," She hissed, dragging him away from Percy and his wife, Audrey. "I don't think we should tell them today."

"We can't hide what's happening, Hermione," Ron replied. He knew Hermione was nervous about telling his family what was going on, but he wasn't going to sit back and let anyone blame her for the situation they were in.

"I know that, but I don't think today is the day," Hermione said. "I don't think we want to cast a shadow over George's big announcement."

"I'm sure it's just something to do with the business," Ron retorted with a dismissive wave of his hand. "He's probably just expanding, or he's developed a new product."

"Or he's proposed to Angelina," Hermione whispered, turning Ron around so he could see George and Angelina whispering about something.

"You think?" Ron asked with a grin. After losing Fred, George had been a shadow of his former self, and it had only been Angelina's presence in his life that had brought him out of his slump. If they were now going to get married, Ron thought it was brilliant news.

"I think it's a strong possibility," Hermione replied. "And I don't want to ruin that by telling them what's going on with us."

"I still think we need to tell them whatever happens with George," Ron replied, just as Molly shouted in from the kitchen that lunch was ready.

"They're going to hate me," Hermione wailed.

"No, they won't," Ron vowed, giving Hermione a quick hug. "Now let's go and have lunch, and worry about this after we've ate."

Following Ron into the kitchen, Hermione hoped he was right and they could have Sunday lunch in peace before they had to even think about informing the family what was going on. Settling down in between Harry and Ron, Hermione initially had high hopes of the meal passing without incident. With so many people at the table, there were several different conversation going on at once, and it was easy for Hermione to remain relatively quiet and remain under the radar. It wasn't until Molly was clearing the plates and sorting dessert that focus switched to George and his big announcement.

"So come on, George," Bill urged his younger brother. "Didn't you have a big announcement to make?"

"Even though we've all guessed it," Charlie added with a chuckle.

"Seriously?" George looked around the table with a pout. "You all know what we're going to say."

"Let's just say we have an inkling," Ginny said. "But we won't know for sure until you break the news to us."

"Just tell them George," Angelina laughed.

George let out a dramatic sigh, before his face broke out in an infectious grin. "Even though all you seemingly know this, Ange and I are engaged."

George's not so surprising announcement was met with wide spread congratulations. While everyone congratulated the happy couple, George told the story of how he proposed to Angelina by slipping her ring into a bowl of ice-cream.

"Of course, I almost ate the ring," Angelina said with a fond chuckle.

"Do we get to see the ring?" Fleur questioned eagerly.

Angelina happily flashed her engagement ring around the table. Molly had just finished telling Angelina how pleased she was to have her as part of the family, when Angelina let Hermione see her ring.

"It's lovely," Hermione said. "I'm so pleased for both of you."

"Hermione, where's your ring?" Molly questioned. When the brunette witch had been examining Angelina's ring, her own engagement ring was visibly absent.

Hermione glanced at Ron, wondering if she should give Molly the excuse about having a loose stone secured, but he shook his head.

"It's time," He told her.

"I guess so," Hermione agreed with a sigh.

"What's going on?" Arthur questioned.

"You haven't split up, have you?" Fleur asked in concern.

"Not exactly," Ron replied, even though he knew at this point it was just a formality that they hadn't yet ended their relationship. Still until they made the call, they were technically still a couple. "A lot of things have happened these last few weeks, so I guess it's time we filled you in on what's been going on."

With Harry's help, Hermione and Ron informed the Weasleys of recent events. Needless to say, everyone was stunned to hear Draco was still alive. Hermione watched everyone's reaction, and she fairly confident that their shock was genuine and none of them knew anything about Draco being alive.

"I agree, it's a rather shocking development," Molly said. "But why does this lead to Hermione's engagement ring being missing?"

"Because until the dust has settled on everything, we don't know what the future holds for any of us," Ron replied.

"You mean you don't know if she's going to go back to her death eater ex?" Molly snapped.

Hermione was momentarily stunned by Molly's outburst. It was only just occurring to her, that she didn't really know what the Weasleys thought of her relationship with Draco. By the time they found out about it, Draco was in hospital, and then he supposedly died. That meant the family had been pretty sympathetic towards her and what she was going through. Since Draco wasn't really an issue, she'd never found out if they disapproved of her relationship.

"Don't call him that," Hermione finally hissed. "He was forced into taking the mark, nothing he did was willing."

"Hermione, we all know this," Ron soothed. "I'm sure Mum didn't mean to upset you. Did you, Mum?"

"I don't know," Molly replied defiantly. "Maybe I did mean to upset her. After all, she could be breaking my son's heart."

"No-one is breaking my heart," Ron insisted. "I ended the engagement, and let Hermione go."

"Why?" Molly snorted. "You don't let people go if you love them."

"You do if you know they're going to be happier elsewhere," Ron argued in a quiet voice. "We all know Hermione wouldn't be with me if Malfoy hadn't died. I'm grown up enough to accept it, so you should all do the same."

Molly turned her glare on Hermione as she digested Ron's words. "So you've been using my son?"

"No, of course not," Hermione replied in indignation, horrified that anyone would think she would use Ron so callously. "I love Ron."

"But not enough to stay with him now the Malfoy boy is back," Molly spat.

"It's not like that," Hermione argued. "Things are complicated now Draco is back."

"I don't see how," Molly retorted. "He's your past, Ron's your future. You moved on."

"Because I thought Draco was dead," Hermione exploded, jumping to her feet. "We didn't break up, I lost him. I've spent seven years thinking the wizard I love was dead. So yes, I moved on, but I never got over him."

"As I said, you were just using Ron," Molly spat. "Personally, I think he's better off without you. What he needs is someone who loves him more than anything."

"You're right," Hermione agreed as a few tears began to run down her cheek. "Ron does deserve better than me. He's amazing, and he should be with someone who loves him more than anything."

"Don't beat yourself up, Hermione," Ron said. "I know how you feel about me."

"I know, but we both know it's not enough," Hermione said. "I should go. I don't want to cause any more trouble with your family."

"I think you should go," Molly agreed, venom dripping from her voice. "Run away, and leave my son to his broken heart."

"Mum, stop it," Ron scolded as Hermione left the kitchen. "Whether Hermione and I are together or not, she's still one of my best friends. I love her, and I will not have you talking to her like that."

Leaving his stunned mother sitting at the kitchen table, Ron hurried off after Hermione. He reached Hermione just as she was about to floo home.

"Hermione, wait," He called.

"Don't Ron," Hermione said with a sniff. "We both know it's better if I leave. You stay here, and try and talk to your mother. Maybe the rest of the family will be more understanding. They didn't exactly get a chance to voice their opinions."

"Okay, I'll stay," Ron said. "But I'll come and see you later on. Don't worry Hermione, it doesn't matter what Mum says, I'll always be there for you."

"I don't deserve you," Hermione said. Pulling Ron into a hug, she took comfort in his familiar embrace.

"Yes, you do," Ron replied. "And you deserve to be happy. That's all I want, to see you happy."

"I just wish it was possible without someone getting hurt," Hermione muttered. She knew Ron would be the injured party, and besides Draco, he was the last person she wanted to hurt.

Hermione stepped out of Ron's embrace, and he reminded her he would be around to see her later that evening. Promising, she would be waiting, Hermione headed home, leaving Ron to deal with his family. Hermione had barely arrived home when she connected the floo connection to the international connection and placed a call to Draco's house in France. Whenever she was upset her first instinct was to run to Draco, and for the first time in seven years, it was finally possible again.

A quick chat with Pixie, led to Hermione flooing to Draco's house. The eager elf was waiting for Hermione when she stepped through the floo network, and she revealed that Draco was waiting for her in the sun room. Hermione wasn't sure where the elf meant, but the small creature led her to the back of the house, where Hermione found Draco sitting in a room with glass walls, which looked out over a spectacular garden.

"I hope I'm not intruding," Hermione said cautiously as Pixie disappeared and left her alone with Draco.

"Of course you're not," Draco replied with a warm smile. "I told you that you were welcome to visit anytime. Is everything okay, you look shaken?"

"I've just come from the Weasleys," Hermione explained. "Molly wasn't very happy with me."

"I'm sorry, Hermione," Draco said. "I never wanted to be a problem in your life."

"You're not," Hermione replied as she walked over to where Draco was sitting. "Having you in my life isn't a problem, it's a blessing."

Draco smiled at Hermione as he reached out and took her hand. Gently he pulled her onto the sofa next to him, and wrapped her in his arms. It was clear she needed comfort, and he wanted to be the one to provide it. Almost the second she was in his arms, Hermione felt everything rush to the surface, and before she knew it she was crying helplessly.

"It's okay," Draco soothed, holding Hermione tighter as he calmed her down. "Everything will be okay."

Once Hermione had calmed down enough, she managed to tell Draco about what had happened with Molly. Draco felt his temper flare as Hermione described the way Molly had gone off at her, but he pushed it back down and refused to let it show. Things were hard enough for Hermione without him creating more problems by losing his temper.

"Maybe once we find out who did this, you should return to your old life," He suggested gently, even though the thought tore him to pieces.

Hermione pulled away from Draco just enough so she could look up at him. "You don't want to see me again?"

"I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you," Draco replied honestly. "But your happiness is more important to me, than anything I selfishly want. You can have a good life with Weasley, a life we can never have. You could forget about me, and live the life you were living before."

"The life I was living before was a half-life," Hermione confessed. "I love Ron, but not in the same way I love you. Yes, we would have been happy together, but there would always be a part of me wishing my life was different. Even if I wanted to, which I don't, I couldn't go back to living my life without you in it."

"I don't want that either, but he can offer you so much more than me," Draco said sadly. "I might have more money, but that's it. I'm an impotent cripple who can't have children."

"Don't call yourself that," Hermione hissed, her brown eyes flashing with anger. "You're not a cripple. So what, you walk with a cane. I don't care. And as for the impotent part, you said yourself, you don't know if you are or not. But even if you are, I don't care."

"You say that now, but you'd soon get sick of being with a man who couldn't make love to you," Draco argued. "I'm not sure I could live with it, and I don't want to do anything that would lead to you resenting me."

"We would deal with that if it happened," Hermione protested. "And as for children, there are other options. But arguing about this now is pointless. Let's find out what happened before we discuss the future. But Draco, I want you to know one thing. I love you, and I do not plan on walking away from you. I don't know what the future holds, but I do know I want you in my life."

Draco nodded, recognising it was pointless arguing with Hermione. "You're right, let's not argue. We've got seven years' worth of catching up to do, and I want to know all about your life."

"Okay, but I also want to know about your life."

Draco nodded again as the pair settled down to do some serious catching up. For the time being the future was put to one side as the pair discussed the past, and what had happened to each other while they'd been separated.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven.**

As Draco sipped his morning cup of tea, he contemplated the day ahead. Unusually for him, he'd chosen to stay in bed for a while longer and he'd had Pixie bring him his breakfast. While Draco had never been a morning person, nor was he the type to have a lazy Sunday morning in bed. In different circumstances, say if Hermione had been at his side, he might have been tempted to try the lazy Sunday thing before now, but unfortunately it wasn't Hermione keeping him in bed. It was his own reluctance to get up and face the day that lay ahead.

Even though logic dictated otherwise, Draco was still struggling to accept someone he cared about was behind the plot to devastate his life with Hermione. The people who would be coming for lunch were all people he trusted implicitly, and until recent events he would have sworn they'd been nothing but supportive towards him. Even when he'd been at his lowest and had pushed people away, his parents and friends had refused to leave. Instead they'd persevered with him, and forced him to get on with his life. The idea one of them had caused a great deal of his pain, not to mention the suffering Hermione went through, was still something Draco couldn't quite comprehend.

Still not knowing what the day would bring, Draco reluctantly threw back the covers and eased himself out of bed. Grabbing his cane, he headed to the bathroom, where he stepped into the magically modified shower that made sure he didn't slip and have a nasty accident. Once he was out of the shower, Draco's eyes fell to his scarred leg and he wondered what Hermione would think of it if she ever saw it. When Voldemort had been torturing him, he hadn't just caused internal pain, he'd caused external pain as well and his left leg had borne the brunt of it. A great deal of the bones in his leg had been shattered, which played a major part in his struggle to walk again, and the skin on his leg was affected with severe burns. Even magic hadn't been able to remove the scarring as the burns weren't caused by fire, they were caused by dark magic.

"Some catch I am," Draco muttered to himself.

Deep down he knew Hermione wouldn't be bothered by a few scars, but he was. They'd been together for a long time before the final battle, and Hermione knew exactly what he looked like naked. She was used to his flawless alabaster skin, not the scarred flesh that now marred his left thigh.

Shaking his head to rid himself of such thoughts, Draco returned to the bedroom to get dressed. After all today really wasn't the day to be thinking about any sort of future with Hermione. Before they could even contemplate what was happening with their lives at present, they had to deal with the past. First of all they had to find out who was involved with what had happened seven years ago, and why they'd torn a happy couple apart.

By the time, Draco was finished dressing it was nearly time for his guests to arrive. Draco had invited his parents and friends to lunch, before Harry, Ron and Hermione arrived to deal with the past. He was half hoping to get some idea of who was behind things, before Hermione and her two friends arrived from England.

Draco just had time to check Pixie had everything in hand, before the first of his guests arrived. Since Pixie was busy with lunch, and he only had one elf, Draco made his way to the floo room himself to greet his friends and family. Draco's parents were the first to arrive, and when Narcissa discovered Draco had also invited his friends, she'd rushed off to ensure Pixie didn't need any help.

"Is there something going on, Draco?" Lucius asked his son as his wife hurried off to consult with the house elf.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked with a frown, wondering if his father had picked up on there being an ulterior motive to the lunch invite.

"It's very unusual for you to invite us for lunch," Lucius pointed out. "And when you do, you don't also invite your friends. I was just wondering if something special was happening."

"Like what?"

"Like a woman," Lucius replied with a hopeful tone to his voice. "You know there's nothing your mother and I would love to see more than you settle down and be happy. You can't spend the rest of your life alone, Draco."

"I know," Draco replied, his answer clearly shocking his father.

"Are you finally admitting you can't carry on living your life as a hermit?" Lucius questioned.

"I don't live as a hermit," Draco answered with a roll of his eyes.

"Sure, you don't," Lucius snorted as the floo network lit up again.

Ignoring his father's insinuations, Draco turned to greet his next guest. His best friend, Blaise Zabini, was the first to arrive, and like Lucius he immediately assumed Draco's invitation meant he had a new girlfriend.

"Can't I just invite my parents and friends to Sunday lunch?" Draco questioned with an exasperated sigh, when Blaise repeated the same questions as his father.

"If it was anyone else, I'd say yes," Blaise answered. "But come on Draco, we all know you don't do you the hosting thing."

"Maybe I'm turning over a new leaf," Draco muttered, turning back to the fire as it lit up again and Daphne Greengrass emerged from the flames.

Shortly after Daphne arrived, Gregory Goyle turned up closely followed by Theo Nott and Pansy Parkinson. As it turned out all of Draco's friends wondered if they'd been invited to lunch to meet a new girlfriend.

"So, there's seriously no new girl?" Theo checked as they settled down at the dining table.

"No," Draco replied. "No new girl."

"You really should think about getting a girlfriend, Draco," Pansy urged. "Any woman would be lucky to have you."

"Of course they would, my son is a catch," Narcissa said proudly. "It just a shame he doesn't see it."

"Can we please stop talking about my love life," Draco pleaded. "Can't we just enjoy a nice lunch and catch up with each other."

With a bit of muttering, Draco's friends and family dropped the topic of the blond's non-existent love life. Instead for the rest of the meal, they shared stories about what they'd been up to. As usual, Blaise had dozens of tales about his bustling love life, and the nightclub he owned in Paris. Greg chatted about work, and bemoaned his lack of love life while Daphne told the group about her work as a paediatric healer. Theo spoke about his new quidditch team, while Pansy gossiped about the pair's newfound romance.

"Although you never guess who we saw a few weeks ago," Pansy suddenly declared.

"Not now Pansy," Theo hissed, elbowing his girlfriend in the side.

"What's the big secret?" Blaise teased.

"Nothing," Theo answered quickly before Pansy had a chance to open her mouth. "We were just at a charity function with my new team a few weeks ago, and we saw all sorts of people."

"You mean the function you went to when I was visiting?" Draco asked. He was fairly certain Pansy was going to mention seeing Hermione, although he wasn't sure why she was bringing it up now. Neither she nor Theo had mentioned it at the time, and the only reason he knew what had happened was that Hermione had mentioned running into Theo when she was visiting him last Sunday.

"Yes, that one," Pansy said.

"You can't stop now, you have to tell us who you saw," Blaise urged.

"Hermione," Draco answered quietly. "They saw Hermione."

"How do you know?" Theo gasped. "I didn't mention it at the time because I didn't want to upset you."

"Logic," Draco answered with a shrug. "The Appleby Arrows joined forces with The Holyhead Harpies for the event, and Ginny plays for the Harpies. It's not a big leap to deduce that Hermione was there as her friend."

"And her future sister-in-law," Pansy added. "Don't forget Granger is engaged to Weasley now."

"That is enough," Narcissa barked out in a sharp voice. "I want no more talk of that witch. She's in the past, and that is where she is going to stay."

Narcissa's tone left no room for argument, and the subject of Hermione was left firmly behind as the group moved from the dining room into the living room. With everyone settled in the living room, Draco made an excuse to leave the group and he headed into the floo room to wait for Hermione, Harry and Ron. Before they arrived, Draco was able to turn the sound off the floo network so when it lit up, no-one in the front room was any the wiser.

Hermione was the first one through the floo network, and the second she stepped from the flames, she walked straight into Draco's arms. The pair were still embracing when Harry and Ron emerged from the fire, and Draco felt a stab of guilt when Ron spotted them and his face briefly clouded over with pain. Even though Ron had never been Draco's favourite person back in school, he'd been a rock of support for Hermione over the last seven years and he didn't want to hurt the redhead. Especially considering how amazing he'd been over the last few weeks. In his position, Draco wasn't so sure he could have selflessly given up the woman he loved because her former lover was back from the dead.

"Is everything set?" Harry checked once Hermione had moved away from Draco.

"Everyone's in the front room," Draco confirmed. "Although remember, I don't want to be throwing accusations around. We just want to get to the truth."

"Believe me, if they're innocent they'll want that just as much as you," Harry said. "Last weekend we told the Weasleys, and they all vowed to do anything they could to help our investigation."

"All of them?" Draco questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Mum was upset," Ron said quietly. Hermione had told him that she'd visited Draco after leaving The Burrow, so it wasn't a big surprise that the blond knew exactly what had happened. "She'll come round eventually."

"That's not important right now," Hermione interrupted. "If you don't mind, can we just get on with this? I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not exactly looking forward to this."

"Neither am I," Draco said quietly. "I've just had lunch with them all, and I can't believe one of them could do this to me. I can't believe someone I love, would hurt me in this way."

Hermione gave Draco an understanding smile, as he turned and led the way to the front room. Draco paused and took a moment to compose himself, before pushing open the door and entering the room.

"There you are," Narcissa called. "We thought you'd had an accident or something." As she spotted the figures behind her son, her voice trailed off until she spotted just who had arrived. "What on earth?" She exploded, jumping up from her seat. "What is she doing here, Draco? Hasn't she done enough damage to you?"

Narcissa feelings were echoed around the room, and Draco found himself facing his less than impressed parents and closest friends. Slightly behind him, he could feel the tension coming from Hermione, and instinctively he put the hand not holding his cane behind him and grasped her hand in his.

"Draco, explain," Lucius snapped, his grey eyes flashing furiously at his looked at his son holding hands with Hermione.

"That is what we're going to do," Draco said. "Now I want everyone to sit down, and calm down. Potter and Weasley are going to explain everything, and you're going to listen."

"But why is she here?" Narcissa snapped, glaring hatefully at Hermione. "Have you forgotten what she did, Draco? Because, I haven't. I haven't forgotten that she left my only son lying in a hospital bed nursing a broken heart on top of all his other problems."

"I promise everything will be explained," Draco told his mother. "Just please, sit down and listen."

Narcissa gave Draco an abrupt nod as she reclaimed her seat next to her husband. Sitting down on the free sofa, Draco pulled Hermione down beside him, while he summoned two chairs from the dining room for Harry and Ron. Once everyone was settled down, Harry and Ron began explaining what had happened, all the time watching for a sign that someone already knew what they were being told. However, everyone in the room seemed completely thrown by what they were hearing. Either they were wrong and the culprit wasn't among Draco's friends and family, or whoever was behind it all was a hell of a liar and had a magnificent poker face. No matter what, by the end of the afternoon the truth would be out, and they'd know once and for all if they had the culprit in their sights.


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve.**

Silence reigned for several minutes as Draco's friends and family digested what Harry and Ron had told them. While the group were listening to the tale and digesting it, Draco, Harry, Ron and Hermione were studying the group closely and watching their reactions. Harry and Ron were using their skills as Aurors to spot if anyone was nervous, Draco was watching in case anyone was acting out of character and jumpy, while Hermione was looking to see if anyone had an adverse reaction towards her that seemed to stem from more than them thinking she'd broken Draco's heart. However, not one of the four spotted anything suspicious.

"Do you seriously expect us to believe this?" Lucius finally asked, breaking the stunned silence in the room.

"It's the truth, Father," Draco said quietly.

Lucius shook his head in disbelief. "It's just so unbelievable."

"It is," Harry agreed. "But it's what happened. Someone made sure Hermione thought Draco was dead, while they made him think she'd left him."

"But who would do that?" Theo asked with a frown. "It's a horrible thing to do."

"That's what we're aiming to find out," Ron replied.

"You think it's one of us?" Blaise spat, focusing on Draco. "Do you honestly believe any of us would do that to you?"

"No, I don't," Draco answered honestly. Even though he knew it made the most sense that whoever was behind the incident was sitting in the room, in his heart he didn't believe anyone he trusted could do this to him.

"But logically speaking, the culprit is more likely closer to Draco than Hermione," Harry chipped in. "No-one is being accused of anything, but we do want to get to the bottom of this."

"Of course you do," Narcissa remarked. "And we'll all do whatever we can to help get to the bottom of this despicable act."

"Of course we will," Blaise confirmed, backing up Narcissa. "I can't speak for anyone else, but I want to get my hands on whoever is behind this and give them a good bloody thrashing."

Draco smiled at his best friend, chuckling slightly at how overprotective Blaise could get. "Try and control your bloodlust, Blaise."

"I don't see why I should," Blaise snorted. "I say when we find out who's behind this, I hold them down and you can whack them with your cane."

"That does sound tempting," Draco chuckled darkly.

Harry and Ron shared a concerned look at the conversation the two former Slytherins were having. Neither of them had any doubts that Draco was a good man, but they both knew he wasn't immune to darkness. Despite the fact he'd never willingly joined Voldemort, they both knew that in different circumstances he could have been a very good recruit for the Dark Lord. The last thing they wanted was for him to give into his inner darkness and do something he would regret later on.

"I was thinking that perhaps we could go over what happened," Harry suggested. "Maybe that can give us some clues. Now we know Hermione was informed of Draco's death the morning after he left St Mungo's, so maybe that's where we should start."

"You want us to explain why we moved him?" Lucius questioned with a raised eyebrow, not entirely sure what the pair wanted to hear.

"That would be a start," Ron said.

Lucius gave a sharp nod before he began to speak. "We made the decision to move Draco practically straight away. St Mungo's is a good hospital, and the healers worked wonders just to save his life. But with things the way they were, Draco couldn't receive the level of care we wanted him to."

"We don't want you to think we were being snobbish," Narcissa added. "Normally, we wouldn't have dreamed of moving Draco, but you all know what the hospital was like at the time. They were treating hundreds of people, and more were coming in daily. Draco was just one of the many people in need, and we were fortunate enough to have the money to enable him to get private healthcare."

"No-one is judging you Mrs Malfoy," Hermione said softly. "We all understand why you made the decision to move Draco. In your shoes, I'm sure almost everyone would have done the same thing."

Narcissa slightly inclined her head in Hermione's direction, acknowledging the younger witch's comments. Hermione took the slight nod to mean that Narcissa was coming to accept that she hadn't been the one to brutally break her son's heart.

"Even though we made the decision to move Draco almost immediately, it took time to arrange," Lucius continued, barely acknowledging the conversation that had taken place between his wife and Hermione. "First we had to find a suitable facility, then I had to get everything sorted with the Ministry, and more importantly, Draco had to be stable enough to be moved."

"So what happened the evening he was moved?" Harry asked.

"The healer was aware of our plans, and once everything was in place, he helped organise the transfer. He personally spoke to the healer at the new facility we were moving Draco to, and he made sure all of Draco's medical records were transferred," Lucius answered.

"And what about informing people of the change of circumstances?" Ron questioned. "Did it never occur to you to get in touch with Hermione?"

"Given the fact she was staying with your family, and with what had recently happened, I didn't think it was prudent to just turn up unannounced," Lucius answered, his grey eyes boring into Ron. "I knew she would be turning up at the hospital, so I left a message with the healer."

"What was the message?" Harry asked. "Because the message Hermione got was that your son was dead and she wasn't allowed anywhere near his funeral."

Lucius briefly flinched when Harry mentioned Draco being dead, but other than that brief flicker, he sat as stoically as ever. "I left the details of the clinic in France," He said in an emotionless voice. "I asked the healer to pass them onto Miss Granger."

"And as far as we knew, she received the message," Narcissa interjected. "She turned up in France later that afternoon to see Draco. She explained that because we'd moved him she wouldn't be able to visit daily, but she would visit a few times a week."

"And that was what she did," Lucius finished, his attention flicking over to Hermione. "She showed up a couple of times a week, until the day after Draco woke up when she spoke to him and ripped his heart out."

"It wasn't Hermione," Draco said firmly as Hermione flinched under Lucius's distasteful glare.

"So they say," Lucius sneered. "But we all saw her son."

"We did," Theo agreed with a nod. "I saw her in France."

"I think we all did," Daphne added. Pansy, Greg and Blaise all nodded in agreement with Daphne and confirmed that they'd all seen Hermione in France.

"I'm sure you did all see her, but do any of you know her well enough to say for certain it was the real Hermione?" Draco questioned.

"You're right," Blaise said with a thoughtful nod. "We may have went to school together for years, but we don't know her that well."

"And that's exactly what whoever orchestrated this whole thing was counting on," Harry said. "They knew no-one but Draco would be able to pick up on the fact it wasn't really Hermione. Which was probably why the fake Hermione ended things with Draco as soon as he woke up and wasn't in any condition to recognise the fact it wasn't really his girlfriend."

"So how can it be one of us if we all saw Granger in France?" Greg asked with a frown.

"One of you could be lying," Ron suggested.

"None of us would do this to Draco," Blaise insisted. "And to prove it, I'd be willing to take some veritiserum. Question us under the influence of the truth serum, and then you'll see that we're not lying."

"Would you all be willing to do that?" Harry asked, scrutinising the group for any nerves.

"We would," Theo confirmed.

"Providing of course we're not the only ones you're looking at," Narcissa said. "I completely understand why you think someone close to Draco orchestrated the whole thing, but there are other people who could have organised it."

"We're aware of that. Hermione's friends and family are the next on the list to be talked to," Ron replied. It had already been decided that if they hit a stumbling block with Draco's friends and family that the people closest to Hermione would come under scrutiny.

"In that case, we'll take the truth serum," Narcissa said.

Reaching into his pocket, Harry pulled out a large vial of clear liquid. "And it just so happens that I have some with me."

"What a coincidence," Theo muttered, rolling his eyes.

"No-one has to do anything they don't want to," Draco told his friends and parents. "If you look me in the eye and tell me you're not involved, I'll believe you. Like I said, I don't think anyone in this room would be that evil."

"No-one has anything to hide," Blaise insisted. "That's why we're all going to take the serum. I'll go first, so come on Potter, do your worst."

Draco summoned a glass for Harry and he poured a dose of the veritiserum into the glass tumbler. Getting up, Blaise picked up the glass and drowned the contents. Placing the empty glass back down on the table, Blaise turned to where Harry and Ron were sitting and waited for them to start the questioning.

"Let's be sure this is working," Harry began. "What's your name?"

"Blaise Zabini," Blaise answered, rolling his eyes at the straightforward question.

"Do you have a significant partner?" Ron asked.

"Hell no," Blaise snorted. "I'm single and loving it."

"When did you lose your virginity?" Harry asked with a wicked smirk.

"Harry," Hermione cried in outrage, just as Blaise answered with when he was fifteen.

"So you weren't lying," Theo grumbled. "We all figured you made up losing your virginity just to be the first one in the group to do so."

"Okay, I think we've established the serum has taken," Draco said. "Can we get on with it?"

"Sure," Harry replied. "Okay Blaise. Did you have anything to do with Hermione thinking Draco was dead?"

"No, I did not," Blaise answered with a shake of his head. "I genuinely thought she'd left him after he woke up. Today is the first I've heard of any of this."

With Blaise passing the test, it was time to move on. Theo went next, and like Blaise he denied any knowledge of what had happened. After Theo came Greg, and then Daphne, with them both passing the test with flying colours. Finally the only one of Draco's friends not to have taken the serum was Pansy, and then they would move onto his parents.

"Come on Pans, get it down your neck," Theo urged when his girlfriend picked up the glass and hesitated before drowning the contents.

For the first time there was a sense of anticipation in the air as Pansy held onto the glass. So far everyone had been more than willing to help, but suddenly Pansy seemed nervous.

"Pansy," Theo said warily. "You haven't got anything to hide, have you?"

"Of course not," Pansy replied defiantly, although both Harry and Ron noticed the way her eyes skittered over to Lucius and then back down to the glass in her hand.

"Pansy, please say you weren't involved with this," Draco pleaded. The longer they'd been talking with his friends and parents, the more Draco was becoming convinced that they'd jumped to the wrong conclusion, but now he wasn't so sure.

"Pansy," Theo repeated, getting to his feet and turning his girlfriend round to look at him. "Tell me this isn't true. Tell me there's another reason you don't want to take the serum. Hell, I'd rather find out you were cheating on me than you were involved in something as nasty as what happened to Draco and Hermione."

"I'm not cheating on you," Pansy whispered, sounding close to tears.

"But you are involved in what happened, aren't you?" Draco prodded. He'd known Pansy long enough to know she was hiding something, he just couldn't believe he'd missed the signs for seven years.

"I'm sorry Draco," Pansy whispered. "I was only trying to help you."

"Help me?" Draco exploded as he surged to his feet and grabbed his came to steady himself. "How on earth did any of this help me? Why would you think breaking my heart when I couldn't walk was helping me?"

"We did it for your own good," Pansy yelled back as the tears began to fall.

"We?" Harry questioned, placing a calming hand on Draco's arm before the blond started yelling again. "Do you want to tell us your partner in crime, Pansy?"

"There is no-one," Pansy said. "It was a slip of the tongue. I did this because I wanted Granger out of Draco's life."

"Why? So you could have him to yourself?" Ron questioned.

"Yes," Pansy answered with a nod.

"But you've never tried to make a move on me," Draco argued. "You've been around as my friend, but that's all. You never once tried anything."

"I was giving you time to recover, and by the time you started to get back to your old self, I was settled in London and I realised we were better off as friends," Pansy said with a casual shrug.

Draco glared at Pansy in disbelief, while poor Theo was standing shaking his head. Suddenly Narcissa rose to her feet and taking everyone by surprise she slapped Pansy across the face. The blow sent Pansy reeling, and as she fell back onto an empty chair in shock, Lucius got up and restrained his furious wife.

"Your spiteful little cow," Narcissa spat. "Your tore my son apart for your own selfish reasons. You're not his friend, you're a monster."

"I don't think Pansy was the brains behind this," Harry said quietly. "She was merely a puppet."

"Give the bitch the veritiserum, that'll make her tell us who else was involved," Blaise suggested in a harsh voice. Like everyone else he was disgusted at Pansy and the act she'd managed to put on for seven years.

"I don't think we need veritiserum, do we Lucius?" Harry said, turning to Draco's father.

The whole room went silent and everyone turned to stare at Lucius. Narcissa even pulled out of her husband's arms and took a step away from the man she loved.

"I don't know what you're suggesting Potter, but I would think very carefully if I were you," Lucius said in a deadly voice.

"I'm suggesting that you were the brains behind the whole operation," Harry replied. "Pansy was just your willing accomplice. Ron and I both saw the look she gave you as she was holding the veritiserum."

"So what she looked at me?" Lucius snorted. "It doesn't mean anything. I was not involved in what happened."

"Prove it," Draco said quietly. "Take the veritiserum and clear your name."

Picking up the glass, Pansy had discarded, Draco held it out for his father. With baited breath everyone waited to see if Lucius would indeed take the truth serum from his son and clear his name.


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen.**

"This is ridiculous," Lucius snorted as everyone looked at him expectantly. "Draco, you can't believe this. You said to look you in the eye and tell you the truth and you'll believe us, well I'm telling you the truth. I was not involved."

Draco looked at his father for a long time, before dropping his hand and placing the veritiserum back on the table. "I believe you."

"In that case I think it's time for you to leave now," Lucius snarled, turning to Harry and Ron. "Now you've finished throwing your wild accusations around you can leave and find out who truly did this."

"We already know," Harry insisted. "Deny it all you want, but we saw the look Pansy gave you. You're involved, we know it."

"Well my son doesn't believe you," Lucius retorted with a smug smirk.

"But your wife just might," Narcissa whispered.

Lucius whirled round to face Narcissa, clearly shocked by her declaration. "Cissa? How can you believe them?"

"I didn't until you refused to take the veritiserum," Narcissa replied. "If you had nothing to hide you would have just taken it and cleared your name." Picking up the glass from the table, Narcissa held it out for her husband. "Go on Lucius, prove me wrong. Take the serum."

When Lucius failed to take the glass from his wife, Narcissa let out an anguished cry before throwing the contents in her husband's face. While Lucius was wiping the liquid from his eyes, Narcissa launched herself at the man she loved. Her sharp nails clawed at his face, leaving deep blood seeping ridges in his cheeks, before she began to pound her fists against his chest.

"Why?" She cried. "Why would you do this? He's our only son."

"That's why I did it," Lucius snapped as he battered to get his wife off him. "I did this to protect him."

Draco let out a low moan at his father's confession, and as he stumbled backwards it was only the fact Hermione was at his side that stopped him falling to the floor. Grabbing onto him, Hermione helped Draco back into his seat and she wrapped her arm around him as he dropped his face into his hands.

"Bastard," Narcissa screamed, finally stopping her attack on Lucius. However, she didn't back off, she just pulled out her wand and pointed it at her husband. "What made you think this was the right thing for Draco? Did you think it was clever to tear his heart to pieces when he was paralysed? You couldn't have been any crueller if you'd tried."

"It wasn't meant to be cruel," Lucius muttered, eyeing up his wife's wand warily. He knew Narcissa was a formidable witch, and he didn't fancy being on the receiving end of one of her hexes.

"How could it be anything but?" Narcissa demanded. Even though tears were falling down her face she was remaining strong and everyone in the room knew she would take Lucius down in an instant if he didn't cooperate. "Our son was lying in a hospital bed after been told he might never walk again, and you got Pansy to pose as Hermione and break his heart. I know you have your faults Lucius, but I never thought you could be that evil to your own son."

"I didn't know Draco was going to be paralysed," Lucius shot back in a pathetic attempt to defend his actions. "I'd already set the plan in motion, and I couldn't go back and change things. Draco wasn't supposed to wake up without feeling in his legs."

"But you still knew he was going to wake up after a horrific ordeal and get his heart broken," Narcissa responded. "What sort of a father does that?"

"The sort that wants to protect my family's name," Lucius replied in a whisper.

"Reputation?" Draco spat, finally looking up. "You did this for your pathetic reputation?"

"We'd already lost so much, we couldn't lose our pureblood status as well," Lucius said weakly. "I couldn't let you marry a muggleborn, and I knew that was where you were heading."

"You're a monster," Draco muttered. Giving his father one final disdainful glare, he dropped his head back into his hands.

"Draco, let me explain," Lucius pleaded, taking a step towards his son.

"Stay away from my son," Narcissa snarled, pressing her wand against Lucius's throat and halting his movement.

"Cissa."

"Don't you Cissa me," She snapped. Taking Lucius by surprise, she quickly transferred her wand to her left hand and slapped her right palm against the side of her husband's already scratched face. "I hate you Lucius Malfoy. What you have done is unforgivable. And there is no reason on earth for you to have put Draco through the pain you have, not to mention the pain you put Hermione through."

"I doubt she went through much pain," Lucius sneered, clenching his jaw as he fought the urge to rub his cheek where Narcissa had slapped him. "She is engaged to another man after all."

"You have no idea what I went through," Hermione snapped at Lucius. She was half tempted to go and give him a slap just like Narcissa, but she wasn't going to leave Draco's side. "What I was still going through until a few weeks ago when I found out Draco was alive. I haven't been alright for seven years. Every day I lived with the pain of losing the man I loved."

"But yet you still moved on and got engaged to someone else," Lucius retorted, unable to stand not having the final say.

"Because I thought Draco was dead," Hermione shouted. "That's the only reason I moved on." Glaring at Lucius one final time, she turned to Ron with a sheepish look, knowing what she'd just said would be hurtful for him to hear. "I'm sorry Ron. You know I love you, but you also know the reason we were together."

"I know, and I understand," Ron said, giving Hermione a small smile. It still hurt to hear Hermione reiterate why she was with him, but it wasn't as if she'd ever pretended otherwise. He'd always known her true love was Draco, and he was just second choice.

"Isn't that nice," Lucius sneered. "Weasley is quite content to be second best. Let's guess, you'll now stand back and watch as the witch you love runs off to be with my son."

"So what if I do?" Ron challenged. "Loving someone means wanting them to be happy. If your son makes Hermione happy, then I'll willingly let her go. But I don't suppose you understand what it is to love someone."

"You have no idea what I understand," Lucius spat. "Everything I have ever done has been for my family. I love my wife and son, and I will not lose them."

"It's too late for that," Draco said with a bitter laugh. "You've already lost me. From this moment on, I have no father."

"You've lost me too, Lucius," Narcissa added in the same steely voice she'd been using for a while now. "You lost us the moment you decided to wreck our son's life. Nothing you do will ever make amends for this." Finally lowering her wand, Narcissa turned to Harry. "Are you going to arrest him now?"

"I'm afraid there's no charge we can throw at him at the moment," Harry admitted. "Technically he didn't inform Hermione that Draco was dead, he left that to the healer. Unless we can find the healer and get him to testify that Lucius put him up to it, we have no proof."

"What about all this?" Blaise questioned. "What about his confession?"

"What confession?" Lucius asked with a smirk. "I haven't admitted to doing anything. At no time have I said that I paid the healer to lie for me, for all we know the poor man was so overwhelmed with everything that was going on he got his patients mixed up and gave a bit of misinformation to Hermione. And even if you can get Pansy to admit I paid her to pose as Hermione, there's no law against that. I was merely taking advantage of an overworked healer's mistake."

"I can't believe you're going to try and wriggle out of this," Narcissa spat. "Can't you at least own up and pay for your mistakes."

"We all know the truth, but we all know I will never be arrested for what happened," Lucius said.

"I hate to say it, but he's right," Harry conceded begrudgingly. "Any conviction would be hard to pull off at best. I'm not really sure there's a law against pretending someone's dead. I mean there's laws against faking your own death for financial gain, but that wasn't the case here. At best, all Lucius would have ended up with was a slap on the wrist and a fine, possibly some community service. I don't think he would have even ended up in Azkaban, despite his past."

"The law might not be able to make you pay, but I can," Narcissa warned her husband.

"You can't divorce me, Narcissa," Lucius pointed out. "We're bonded. You're stuck with me for life."

"In name only," Narcissa retorted. "Believe you me, our marriage is over. You're going to move out of the chateau tonight, and you're going to leave Draco and I alone."

"You really think I'm going to agree to that?" Lucius scoffed. "I don't think so, Narcissa."

"You'll agree if you want to keep your manhood," Narcissa replied with a sweet smile as she aimed her wand at her husband's crotch. "I know a few good disfiguring charms, and I now have no interest in your family jewels. What would I care if you were missing a few chunks of penis?"

"You wouldn't dare." Lucius backed away even as he spoke, uncertain of what his wife would actually do in her ire.

"Try me," Narcissa threatened, giving Lucius a Malfoy smirk. "Now be a good boy Lucius and run home and pack. By the time I get back tonight, I want you gone. Go live your life, and leave Draco and I to live ours. And don't think of messing with the bank vaults. If you try and screw us over, I'll track you down and castrate you like the dog you are."

Lucius opened his mouth to speak, but when Narcissa took a step forward, her wand still pointed firmly at his crotch, he closed it again and backed away. "This isn't the end," He vowed as he headed for the door. "Trust me, I will not lose my family over a mudblood."

"Get out of my house," Draco snarled, pulling out his wand and firing a stinging hex that Lucius just say avoided by ducking his head.

Now hexes had actually being thrown, Lucius knew it was time to leave. Without another word, he hastily left the living room and departed from his son's house. Once Lucius was out of the way, everyone's focus switched back to Pansy. Since her part in proceedings had been revealed a short time earlier, she'd just been sitting on the sofa crying softly.

"I'll tell you everything you want to know," She offered as she swiped at her tears.

"We know everything we need to know," Draco snapped. Even though they hadn't heard the details of the plan, it was easy enough to figure out. Lucius had thrown his money around to get people to help him get Hermione out of Draco's life, and unfortunately he'd succeeded for seven years. "Now you can go and never come back. I never want to set eyes on you again."

"And that goes for all of us," Blaise added, glaring at Pansy. "You're no longer our friend, Pansy."

Pansy sniffed as she turned to Theo, hoping for some support there. "I'm sorry," She whispered.

"It's too late for sorry," Theo said quietly. "You're not the person I thought you were, Pansy. We're finished. I never want to set eyes on you again."

"Just leave Pansy," Daphne ordered when Pansy opened her mouth to start pleading with Theo to take her back. "You brought this on yourself, and now you're getting what you deserve."

"I really am sorry," Pansy muttered, before turning on her heel and fleeing from the room.

After Pansy left there was silence as everyone digested what had happened. Even though Harry and Ron had been confident of catching the culprit, they'd hadn't wanted things to be as terrible as they had been. As for Draco, he'd never for one moment thought his father would be involved. He hadn't wanted to believe his friends would do this to him, but he hadn't even considered his family would be so cruel as to orchestrate the entire thing.

"Thank you for putting things right and making sure the truth came out," Narcissa said to Harry and Ron as she finally broke the silence in the room.

"We're just sorry the truth was so devastating," Harry said, giving Narcissa a sympathetic smile. The older witch had been incredibly brave as she fought for Draco, but he could only imagine how broken she felt inside by her husband's betrayal.

"We're all sorry for the way things worked out," Narcissa replied. "But hopefully we'll all be strong enough to make it through the other end."

"I'm sure you will be Mrs Malfoy," Harry said as he got to his feet. "Now, I think it's time we left."

"We should go as well," Greg said, glancing over at Draco who was still sitting staring down at the carpet at his feet and seemed oblivious to the conversation going on around him.

"I think that's a good idea," Narcissa agreed with a nod. "Let's give Draco some time, and he'll be in touch when he's ready."

While everyone rose to their feet and made their way over to the door, Draco remained where he was. Hermione looked at Draco for several minutes, before heading over to where Harry and Ron were standing by the door with the others.

"I'm going to stay with Draco," She told her two friends. "Can one of you make sure the shop's sorted tomorrow?"

"Of course," Ron said, giving Hermione a peck on the cheek. "You stay here and be there for him. He really needs you right now."

"Wow, that's impressive," Daphne whispered to Ron as Hermione headed back over to Draco and wrapped him in her arms.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Letting her go," Daphne replied, giving Ron a warm smile. "It takes a big man to let someone they love go and be happy with someone else. You're a good man, Ron Weasley, and one day some witch is going to be very lucky to end up with you."

Ron blushed slightly, but he was saved from having to find an answer when Narcissa offered to see the group out. Narcissa ushered the group to the floo room, where people said their goodbyes and began to go their separate ways. Once everyone had left, Narcissa locked the floo network and slumped down in one of the chairs beside the fire as she finally let her tears spill. Narcissa sat quietly sobbing for ten minutes, before she wiped her tears and headed back to check on how her son was faring. They'd both received a major shock regarding Lucius, and she could only imagine how long it would going to take them both to recover from his betrayal.

* * *

 **A/N – I just want to take a moment to thank most people for their reviews and interest in this story. However, I did feel that after the last chapter I got a few reviews that were unnecessarily rude and insulting. From earlier reviews, I always knew the reveal of who was behind the plot to spilt Draco and Hermione wasn't going to be universally popular, and I had no problem with that. People are entitled to like or dislike whatever they choose, and I'm certainly not going to get upset if people dislike an element of a story (or even a whole story). However, the tone of a few reviews really annoyed me. Even if you didn't like the route I chose to go down on MY STORY – there's no need to be so rude about it.**

 **I would have loved to have made the culprit someone unexpected, but it just wasn't possible with this story. The basics of the plan meant there was a narrow field of suspects to begin with. Then the way things went down, only someone close to Draco with power and money could had orchestrated the whole thing. That basically left me with two realistic choices – Lucius or Narcissa. I chose Lucius as I couldn't see Narcissa going to such lengths – even if she did disapprove of Draco being involved with Hermione.**

 **I'm sure I'll also get reviews after this chapter from people not happy that Lucius wasn't arrested (although just because he hasn't ended up in jail doesn't mean he isn't being punished). Again, everyone is entitled to their opinion as to whether they like it or not, but there's no need to be rude and insulting in your reviews. Basically, if you can't be civil and you don't like what you read – don't read my stories. No-one is forcing anyone to read anything on this site – and there is certainly no-one forcing people to leave reviews that are rude and insulting in tone.**

 **Sorry for ranting, but I just had to get this off my chest as I hate it when you get reviews that are unnecessarily rude (and I've seen plenty of them on other people's stories as well). I also just want to thank my loyal readers whose names I see after nearly every chapter - even if it's just a few words of encouragement. (I'm sure you know who you are). You are the people I publish on this site for, and I appreciate the amazing support I receive from you. Thanks again – and can people please just remember that there's no need to be rude in your reviews – after all this writing malarkey is just a bit of fun.**


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen.**

Pausing in the doorway of the front room, Narcissa took in the sight of her son being consoled by Hermione. Hermione had her arm around Draco, and she was saying something to him, but she was speaking too quietly for her to hear what she was saying. Narcissa watched the way Draco leant into Hermione, and felt guilty for all the years the couple had been separated. Of course she hadn't caused the separation, but she'd kept Hermione out of her son's life ever since she supposedly broke his heart by making sure Draco never even contemplated getting in touch with her when he seemed to have a weak moment. Now she wished she hadn't been so eager to badmouth Hermione whenever she felt her son was on the verge of trying to contact her. Maybe if she hadn't interfered and let Draco act on his instincts to look Hermione up, things could have been sorted years ago.

Knowing regret wouldn't get her anywhere, she cleared her throat and made her presence known as she entered the room. When Draco raised his head, Narcissa could see how deeply he was affected by what had happened and she wanted nothing more than to take her son's pain away. If only it worked like that, but unfortunately it didn't, and she knew there was nothing she could do to make his father's betrayal easier.

"I'll go and make some tea," Hermione offered, slowly getting to her feet.

"Pixie can do it," Draco replied, grabbing hold of Hermione's hand to stop her from leaving.

"She can help me," Hermione said, giving the blond a pointed look so he would understand what she was really doing in giving him some time alone with his mother.

Narcissa stifled the urge to roll her eyes as understanding dawned on her son's face and he sheepishly let go of Hermione's hand. For someone who was pretty smart, Draco could be awfully dense at times.

"Thank you," Narcissa said to the younger witch as Hermione began to leave.

Hermione gave Narcissa a small smile, before giving Draco a more reassuring one and exiting the room. Left alone with her son, Narcissa crossed over to the sofa he was sitting on and perched beside him.

"How are you holding up?" She asked, taking hold of his hand.

"I think I'm still in shock," Draco admitted quietly. "I always knew Father wouldn't approve of my relationship with Hermione, but I never thought he would do this."

"Neither did I," Narcissa said. "He certainly had me fooled."

"Did you never talk about my relationship with Hermione?" Draco asked. Because of what had happened, he'd never gotten his parents opinions on the relationship, but he figured they had to have discussed it when he was in his coma.

"Briefly," Narcissa answered. "Back when you were first in St Mungo's. Neither of us were particularly thrilled with the development, but it wasn't the time to discuss such matters. We decided to wait until you were better, but then everything happened and it just wasn't an issue."

"What about when everything happened? Did that not give you any clue he was behind Hermione ending things?" Draco questioned, wondering if the signs had been there all those years ago and his mother had chosen to ignore them.

"I had no idea," Narcissa insisted. "It was your father who mentioned leaving a message with the healer for Hermione when we moved you, it had never occurred to me to do such a thing. He wasn't exactly pleased that Hermione was in your life, but he didn't do anything to rouse my suspicions. In fact, after she ended things I had to stop him from going back to England and confronting her."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sure you can remember how devastated you were the day she ended things. Well, when your father and I returned from the clinic, he was furious at her for abandoning you. I was so worried he was going to do something stupid and end up in Azkaban, after all he'd been lucky to avoid jail in the first place. I spent hours calming him down and convincing him that you were the priority, and we shouldn't waste our time on Hermione. Obviously, it was all one big act and I fell for it."

"It's not your fault, Mother," Draco insisted, squeezing his mother's hand. "He played us all for fools. Right up until the end, I believed him. Even when Potter and Weasley were accusing him, I refused to believe he would do this to me. I guess we both wanted to see what we wanted to. Neither of us wanted to believe he could cause such pain."

Narcissa nodded in agreement and the pair fell silent, each of them slowly coming to terms with what happened. They were still sitting in silence when Hermione returned carrying a tray of tea.

"I can leave again and give you some more time," She offered as she placed the tray on the coffee table.

"It's alright, I think we've finished," Narcissa replied. "Or at least I don't think there's anything else we need to discuss in private. Especially as what I now have to say, is for you."

"You have something to say to me?" Hermione asked in surprise as she sat down opposite Draco and Narcissa.

"I do." Narcissa nodded once. "I want to apologise. Not for my husband, I'm washing my hands of him and any apologising has to come from him. I'm apologising for what happened after my husband meddled in things. I also meddled and kept you apart."

"I don't understand," Hermione said with a frown. "How did you keep us apart?"

"There were several times I could see Draco wanted to contact you. He never said as much, but I know my son. I wasn't particularly worried for the first two years, as I knew he couldn't leave the country without someone's help and I knew no-one would help him without telling me. However, when he could walk again, I worried he would take a trip back home and find you. Whenever I got the impression the thought was in his head, I would casually mention you and remind him how you'd torn his heart to shreds and abandoned him when he needed you the most. It was enough to make sure he never acted on his impulses. But I want to say sorry, if I hadn't done that, he might have found you earlier."

"I'm not sure I would have actually," Draco admitted before Hermione could respond. "I admit, I thought about contacting Hermione almost every day. But I'm not sure I ever would have had the guts to do it. Even when I was in London recently, I never approached her. If she hadn't seen me, we never would have been here. I was too cowardly to fight for the witch I love."

Hermione got up and moved so she was kneeling in front of Draco. "It was not cowardly. Considering what you thought had happened, it's a miracle you still cared about me. Most people in your shoes would have hated me."

"I could never hate you," Draco replied quietly, reaching out and cupping Hermione's cheek in his hand. "I will always love you."

"And I'll always love you," Hermione returned, taking hold of Draco's hand and placing a kiss in his palm.

Narcissa watched the pair with a sad smile on her face. She didn't doubt that they would work through events of the previous few years and find a way to be together, but she couldn't help but think how it would affect their relationship. Like it or not they'd spent seven years apart, and in that time they'd both changed and grown as people. Whether that meant a relationship between them would ever work she didn't know, but she liked to think that her son could be happy again.

"What happens now?" Hermione asked, getting up off the floor and perching on the arm of the sofa beside Draco.

"After I finish my tea, I go home and check Lucius is gone," Narcissa replied as she picked up her cup.

"Do you really think it's going to be that simple?" Draco asked his mother. "We both know Father. He's stubborn, and he won't give up without a fight. No matter what we say, he won't just walk away."

"I don't suppose he will," Narcissa agreed. "But I'd be very surprised if he didn't do as I said for the time being. He's smart enough to know the best thing is for him to retreat and lick his wounds. He'll be back, I'm sure of it, but I think we'll have a few days respite before we have to deal with him again."

"And what happens when he comes back? Will you forgive him?" Draco questioned, his grey eyes never leaving his mother's face as he waited for her response. He knew he was finished with his father, there was no going back from what he'd done, but he wasn't so sure his mother could walk away from Lucius as easy.

"No, I'll never forgive him," Narcissa replied and Draco could tell she meant every word of it. "I can't deny that I love him, I probably always will, but that doesn't mean I can't hate him at the same time. I can never forgive him for what he's put you through."

"I don't want you to be alone because of me," Draco told his mother.

"This isn't because of you, it's because of your father," Narcissa argued. "But what about you two? What's going to happen now? I understand you love each other, but it has been seven years since you were together, a lot's happened in that time."

"Too much has happened for us to even think about what's going to happen next," Draco replied, hoping he wasn't offending Hermione with his answer. "But whatever happens, it'll happen when we're ready."

"We know we've got things to deal with, but there's no hurry," Hermione added, silently reassuring Draco she was on the same page as him. "We've got all the time in the world. We don't want to hurt anyone, and we both know what happens next doesn't just involve us two."

"Just as long as my son doesn't end up with another broken heart," Narcissa warned, giving Hermione a steely gaze.

"I would never do anything to hurt Draco," Hermione promised.

Slowly Narcissa's stern glare dropped and she gave Hermione a warm smile. "And that's good enough for me. Now, I'll finish my tea, and leave you in peace. I'm sure you've got plenty to discuss."

Ten minutes later, Narcissa had finished her tea and she'd flooed home, leaving Draco and Hermione alone to talk. Re-joining Draco on the sofa, Hermione settled at his side and the pair discussed what had happened that afternoon. They also briefly touched on the future, but both agreed that they didn't need to rush into anything. However, they did establish that they both saw their future together.

After a light supper, they chatted some more before the subject of sleep arrangements came up. Draco had heard Hermione asking Harry and Ron to sort her shop the following day, so he was assuming she wanted to stay with him overnight. Hermione was hoping to stay with Draco, but she also didn't want to intrude.

"I can go home if that's what you're most comfortable with," Hermione offered. "I just thought you might not want to be alone after the afternoon we've had."

"I would like you to stay," Draco reassured the brunette witch. "Do you want me to get Pixie to sort out the guest room?"

"That's up to you, Draco," Hermione replied. "Where do you want me to sleep?"

"I'm sure you know where, but I think it could be too soon," Draco answered. "The guest room is probably the best answer."

"It probably is," Hermione agreed. She would love to curl up with Draco in his bed, but she agreed it was too soon. It was only a few weeks ago she was agreeing to marry Ron, so it was definitely too soon to be jumping back into Draco's bed, even if it was just to sleep.

Draco called for Pixie and had the elf prepare the spare room. Once the room was ready, Draco showed Hermione where the room was located, and also informed her where his bedroom was in case she needed him in the night.

"Do you need any help?" Hermione asked, glancing down at Draco's lag. She was unsure if she was being rude, but she didn't know the full situation with his injury.

"I can usually manage fine," Draco replied slowly as he tried to decide whether to be brave and show Hermione just what she would be dealing with if they got back together. "But why don't you come and help me get ready for bed."

"Are you sure?" Hermione checked. "I don't want you to think I'm being nosey."

"No, if we're going to even think of restarting our relationship you need to know all the facts," Draco replied.

Draco led Hermione down the corridor, to his own large bedroom. The bedroom was very masculine and Hermione could tell instantly that it was very much Draco's private domain. She doubted even his mother got to venture into the room much. Leaving Hermione to look around the room, Draco headed into the bathroom where he got washed and brushed his teeth.

When he emerged, he was stripped down to just his trousers. Hermione couldn't help but stare at Draco, admiring his physique. The few times they'd been intimate was in sixth year, and with everything that was happening, Draco had been a bit on the scrawny side. However, he wasn't scrawny anymore. He'd filled out nicely and she suspected a good deal of his upper muscles were down to the fact he'd been in a wheelchair for a few years and had to get used to using his arms and torso more than usual.

"I haven't totally repulsed you yet?" Draco joked.

"You could never repulse me," Hermione replied seriously.

"I hope not," Draco answered, dropping the joking tone. "I have an ointment I need to apply to my leg before bed. Do you want to give me a hand?"

"Of course," Hermione answered with a nod.

Draco handed Hermione a tub he'd brought with him from the bathroom, before propping his cane beside the bed and unzipping his trousers. Hermione tried not to stare at Draco got undressed, but she couldn't help herself. It had been a long time since was so close to a half-naked Draco, and she'd forgotten just how attracted to him she was. Even the fact the top of his left leg was heavily scarred did nothing to deter the arousal that was flooding her body as he pulled off his trousers and sat at the side of the bed.

"Nasty, isn't it?" Draco said, drawing Hermione's attention to his injured leg.

Forgetting her own reactions to seeing Draco nearly naked, Hermione focused on Draco's leg. He was right, it was nasty. From the very top of his thigh almost to his knee was covered with scar damage. While the rest of his body was its normal pale self, his upper left leg was badly scarred and the skin looked slightly inflamed.

"It looks as though you've burnt yourself," Hermione remarked as she unscrewed the tub of ointment and knelt down in front of Draco.

"The injury is pretty much a burn scar," Draco answered. "It's just been magically burnt, rather than burnt with actual fire. The result's still as painful as hell."

"Even now?" Hermione asked.

"Now, it's more like a dull throb, but back when I first woke up, it stung like a bitch," Draco replied. "Unfortunately it was the one part of my legs I could actually feel. I had a burning left thigh, and no other feeling whatsoever in either the rest of that leg or my right leg."

"I thought your right leg was fine," Hermione said as she dipped her fingers into the ointment and began to apply it to the area above Draco's knee.

"It is," Draco answered. "The paralysis in my right leg was temporary, I got feeling back in it within a week. The feeling in the my left leg took almost six months to return, and it was the injuries in that leg that left me unable to walk."

"I'm so sorry Draco," Hermione said quietly.

"I'm fine now, that's the important thing," Draco said, his eyes drawn to where Hermione was rubbing the ointment into his leg. Just having her hands on him was starting to ignite feelings he'd long since buried and he was rather surprised to find himself getting aroused.

By the time Hermione reached the top of Draco's thigh, she was aware of his state and she couldn't help but grin up at him wickedly. "It looks like you're still working after all."

"I guess so," Draco answered with a slight blush. "Although, it might not change anything. I still have limited movement with my leg at times."

"We'll manage," Hermione replied with a casual shrug. "I've already told you, Draco, sex isn't important. I love you regardless of if we ever have sex again. But I would say, so far the signs look promising."

"It's looking more promising than it has in seven years," Draco agreed as Hermione finished with the ointment.

While Hermione went to wash her hands, and return to the ointment to the bathroom, Draco got into bed. When Hermione returned, she checked Draco had everything he would need, before leaning over and connecting their lips. It was their first kiss since being reunited, and while it was brief, it left both of them with wide smiles on their faces. Despite everything that was going on, they knew they were going to be alright. They'd found each other again, and they believed that nothing could tear them apart again.


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen.**

When Hermione awoke she found herself in a strange bed. It took a moment before she remembered where she was and a small smile broke out on her lips. Even with everything that had happened the previous day, Hermione finally felt as though things were starting to right themselves. Finally, she and Draco would have the chance of happiness that Lucius had denied them seven years ago.

Scrambling out of bed, Hermione used the guest bathroom a few doors down from the guest bedroom, before she returned to the bedroom to get dressed. When she was finished dressing she debated whether to go and see if Draco was up, or leave him to get up in his own time. Before she had time to make a decision, there was a knock on the bedroom door and when she opened it she found Draco on the other side.

"Morning," He greeted with a smile. "Did you sleep okay?"

"I did, thank you," Hermione replied. "How about you? How did you sleep?"

"Not great," Draco admitted as the smile fell from his face. "I still can't get over what Father did."

Hermione nodded sympathetically, not really knowing what to say. She had no idea what Draco was going through, and she didn't thing pretending to understand would help. The truth was, no-one could understand what Draco was going through, unless they'd had experience of their own with one of their parents betraying them in such a way. The sad thing was, Hermione didn't know anyone who'd experienced anything like the betrayal Draco had. She didn't know another person, besides Lucius, who would do something so cruel to their only child.

"Let's go and have breakfast," Draco said, shaking his head to rid himself of thoughts of his father. "Pixie makes amazing pancakes."

"Do you not make your own breakfast?" Hermione teased as they headed for the kitchen.

"Do you want me to poison myself?" Draco asked with a humorous laugh. "Seriously though, Pixie won't let me in the kitchen unless it's to eat or grab a drink. She thinks I'm lethal with kitchen appliances."

"Are you?" Hermione questioned.

"I did once almost chop my toe off when I dropped a knife on the floor," Draco answered. "Then there was the time I was making toast and almost burnt the kitchen down. And the one time I tried making a light snack for myself, I mistook sugar for salt and ended up with a light covering of sugar over my baguette."

"I can see why Pixie won't let you cook," Hermione said as they entered the kitchen to find Pixie already hard at work.

Settling down at the kitchen table, Hermione watched as Draco greeted his elf and checked she had everything she needed. It was obvious that Draco cared for his elf, and that she cared for him in return. Hermione was also pleased to note that Pixie didn't seem enslaved in any way. In fact Draco had made a point of telling her that Pixie was a free elf, and she worked for him by choice.

"Breakfast looks lovely Pixie," Hermione said as the elf placed two plates of freshly made pancakes on the table alongside a pitcher of fresh juice.

"Thank you Miss," Pixie replied with a small smile. "Just call if I've missed anything," She said to Draco, before apparating away with a small pop.

"Mmm, you were right," Hermione said with a satisfied hum as she placed a forkful of pancake in her mouth. "These pancakes are delicious."

"Pixie's the best," Draco said with genuine affection.

For a while the pair ate their breakfast in silence, until Draco cleared his throat and Hermione knew he wanted to discuss something. She got the impression he'd been wanting to talk since the moment they sat down, and he was just working out how to begin. She was just hoping whatever he had to say wouldn't involve trying to push her away.

"I was thinking last night," He began. "It's time to make some changes."

"What sort of changes?" Hermione asked.

"Well for a start, if we're serious about trying to reignite our relationship, we can't do that in different countries," Draco replied.

"I am serious about being with you," Hermione interrupted. "It's what I want more than anything, Draco. But shouldn't we talk about one of us uprooting our lives and moving countries, before we make any decisions?"

"We could, but I already know what's going to happen," Draco answered. "Given what happened with Father, I'm terminating my interest in the family business. My personal assistant will be here around ten, and when she arrives I'm going to give her instructions to pack everything up and return it to the office. I'm done with the family business, just like I'm done with Father."

Hermione opened her mouth to ask if Draco was being too hasty, but then she thought about what Lucius had done and realised that Draco wouldn't be able to stay working with his father. It would be a miracle if he would ever speak to him again, so working together wasn't really an option.

"So what would you do for a living?" Hermione asked.

"Anything I wanted," Draco replied with a shrug. "I've got a lot of money in my personal account, more than enough to set up my own business if that's what I want to do. Then I'll have the money from selling this place."

"You're selling your house?" Hermione questioned.

"Yes," Draco answered with a nod. "I stayed in France after I got out of hospital because it was easier. By the time I was ready to start living my life again, I had nothing to return home for. My parents had already made the move to France, so it was only natural I remained here. However, I've now got something back home. I've got you, and I want to be with you. I can sell this place and buy somewhere in England. Maybe in time we could find a place together, but right now I think living in the same country is enough."

Hermione was surprised when she felt a surge of disappointment run through her when Draco mentioned living together sometime in the future. Logically she knew he was right, and living in the same country was the first step in re-establishing their relationship. Jumping right in and living together straight away would just be madness, and would possibly end in things going wrong between them. After all, Hermione had never moved in with Ron throughout the duration of their relationship, so it was foolish to even think about moving in with Draco when they'd been separated for seven years.

"Is that okay?" Draco asked when Hermione stayed silent. "I mean, I don't have to go back home if you don't want me there. I just thought it would be easier than hopping between two countries."

"I want you to come back home," Hermione insisted. "I agree, things will be easier if we live in the same country. I just don't want you to give up your entire life for me."

"That's just the thing Hermione, I don't really have a life here," Draco said softly. "Ask any of my friends and they'll tell you, I merely go through the motions. I worked at the family business because it gave me something to do. As for my social life, it consisted of occasionally seeing my friends and having dinner with my parents. The recent trip to see Theo was the first time I'd even left France since I arrived when I was in my coma. Believe me, I won't be leaving anything behind."

"What about the house?" Hermione asked. "Aren't you attached to it?"

"Not really," Draco answered with another shrug. "Apart from a few rooms, I didn't even have any say in the decorating. This place is nice, but it's never felt like home. I'm hoping to find that with you."

"I like the sound of that," Hermione replied with a smile.

Talking for a bit longer the couple decided that Hermione would head home and leave Draco to sort out things in France. It would also give him some time to completely come to terms with what his father and Pansy had done. Hermione would come back on Friday evening and they could talk further then as they made some solid plans and looked towards the future.

 ** _000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000_**

When Hermione returned home she quickly checked everything was alright with the shop, before leaving the place in the capable hands of her staff. She then headed to the Ministry to see if she could talk to Ron and invite him to dinner. Ron readily agreed to have dinner with Hermione as they both knew they needed to have a serious discussion and make some plans on how to deal with their relationship.

Knowing it was better if they stayed in, Hermione spent the afternoon making dinner for her and Ron. When Ron arrived at her flat, there was a sense of finality in the air and they both knew things between them would never be the same again. Hermione just hoped they'd still have their friendship when all was said and done.

"How did things go last night after we left?" Ron asked as they settled down to eat.

"Okay," Hermione replied, dishing up the lasagne and pouring two generous glasses of wine. "I think Draco's still struggling to come to terms with the fact his father was behind everything."

"I can't blame him there," Ron said with a sad shake of his head. "I don't know what I would do in his position."

"The difference is you would never be in his position," Hermione said quietly. "Arthur would never hurt you like that, even if he didn't approve of your choices."

"I know," Ron said with a nod. "But ironically, I would have said that Lucius would never hurt Draco like that. I always thought that for the Malfoys, family came first."

"I think it does, I just think Lucius's perception of protecting his family is skewed," Hermione replied. "And because of that, he's lost them. Or at the very least he's lost Draco."

"I can't say I'm surprised there," Ron said. "I doubt many people would be able to forgive their father for such a despicable act."

Hermione nodded in agreement, before she quietly voiced what had been playing on her mind since Ron arrived at the flat. "And what about best friends? Can they be forgiven for breaking their best friend's heart by cancelling their engagement?"

"There's nothing to forgive," Ron insisted. Placing his knife and fork down, he reached across the table and gave Hermione's hand a squeeze. "Nothing that's happened here is your fault. You didn't know Draco was alive and we were going to come into contact with him again. You couldn't have predicted any of this."

"I couldn't," Hermione agreed. "But I did know I was having doubts even before Draco turned up. I never should have agreed to marry you, Ron. It was unfair, and even without all of this with Draco, you still would have ended up hurt. I don't think I could have gone through with marrying you."

"I know," Ron whispered, giving Hermione a major shock.

"What do you mean, you know?"

"I knew you were having doubts," Ron confessed. "Despite what people think, I'm not a complete idiot."

"No-one thinks that, Ron," Hermione interrupted.

Ron gave her a smile, although he didn't say anything about her protests as he carried on speaking. "Anyway, I knew you were having doubts about our relationship even before we got engaged. I was being stubborn and I didn't want to admit defeat. I thought if we got married, your doubts would go and we could be happy together. Deep down, I think I always knew we were never going to get married. I don't think we were even ever meant to get together. We just drifted together, and because we loved each other as friends, it was easy to pretend it was something more."

"Are you telling me you never loved me as more than a friend?" Hermione questioned, totally surprised by the direction the conversation had gone.

"No, I do love you," Ron replied. "I love you as my friend, but I also love you as more. Just like you love me as a friend, and also a bit more than that. But just because we love each other, doesn't mean we're in love with each other. You've never been in love with me, I've always known that, and I don't think I was ever truly in love with you. I wanted to be in love with you, but I think I've always known it wasn't quite right. I never felt for you, the way you feel for Draco, or the way he feels for you."

"But we did love each other," Hermione whispered.

"We did, and we still do," Ron said with a nod. "And that's why we're going to stay friends. I love you too much not to have you in my life."

"Me too," Hermione said, giving Ron a small smile. "I never want to lose you. But I want you to be happy, I want you to find someone who's madly in love with you. I want you to find someone you love with all your heart."

"And I will," Ron replied confidently. He genuinely believed there was someone like that out there for him, and now he'd let Hermione go, he could find her. "We'll both by happy, Hermione, just you wait and see."

Hermione gave Ron's hand another squeeze, before the pair returned to their food. After lasagne, Hermione got some black cherry ice-cream log out of the freezer, and over dessert the pair discussed their next move. So far their engagement had just been put on hold, but it was now time to end it officially.

"I'll speak to the family tomorrow," Ron said. "And then I'll release a statement to the press announcing we've decided to end the engagement with no hard feelings. I'll make it clear it's a mutual decision, and we're still the best of friends."

"But the gossips will still gossip," Hermione said with a rueful smile.

"Yes, they will," Ron agreed. "But we know the truth. We both know we're making the right call. You and I don't belong together. You belong with Draco, and I belong with someone who loves me with all her heart."

"How about we drink to that," Hermione suggested as she raised her glass. "To both of us finding happiness."

Ron lifted his glass up, and clinked it with Hermione's. Sharing a smile, the former couple finished their dinner and spent a few more hours chatting about the future, before Ron headed home. Now things had formally ended between them, they could both look to the future. Hermione could focus on her relationship with Draco, while Ron could finally find himself a witch who truly loved him, and whom he truly loved in return.

* * *

 **A/N – Just a few things – firstly there'll be an extra chapter published next week so I can get this story done and dusted. Updates of COTD will remain the same.**

 **Secondly, as I'm sure most of my regular readers are now aware, I'm going to be taking a break from publishing new stories. I just want to thank everyone for their amazing messages since I made the announcement – it's nice to know so many people enjoy my writing.**

 **But I do just want to stress that it is just a temporary break. I'm still going to be writing, even though I'm not publishing for a while. I'll be back either at the end of May or the beginning of June with my latest story, Scarlett Dragon.**


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen.**

Even though she'd only seen Draco on Monday morning, by Wednesday afternoon, Hermione was desperate for it to be Friday evening and time for her to go back to France. With everything settled with Ron, she finally felt as though she could move on with Draco without feeling like she was betraying Ron. True to his word, Ron had told his family the engagement was officially off, and he'd released a statement to the press. Word of their break-up had been in all the morning papers, and Hermione was pleased to find it had all been very respectful. Although, chances were it would change as people started to gossip about why they'd broken up.

Over the course of the morning, Hermione had seen both Ginny and George. They'd both dropped into the shop just to let her know they supported her and didn't blame her for how things ended up with Ron. Hermione knew Ginny was still disappointed that they would no longer become family, but as she'd reminded the redhead, they'd always be friends. George had also passed on messages of support from Bill and Fleur. It would seem the majority of the family understood what had happened and loved Hermione enough to want her to be happy.

The one thing Hermione didn't know was how Molly had taken the news, but she found out first hand when shortly after lunch the redheaded woman entered the shop. Hermione's friendly greeting died on her lips when she came face to face with a scowling Molly.

"Molly, do you want to come through to the office?" Hermione asked, very aware that there were customers in the shop and several of them had turned to watch when Molly had entered the shop.

"Why? Are you worried about what I have to say?" Molly asked loudly.

"No, I just thought it would be better if we spoke in private," Hermione replied.

"I don't think so," Molly said. "I'm quite happy to say what I came to say here."

"And what did you come to say?" Hermione questioned with a sigh. She could understand Molly being protective of Ron and his feelings, but she did think the older witch could handle things with a bit more dignity.

"I just wanted to let you know that you're no longer welcome at my home," Molly announced, aware she had an audience and totally unconcerned with the gossip she would undoubtedly start. "You might have my son wrapped around your little finger, but it doesn't wash with me. You've done nothing but use Ron and take advantage of his good nature."

"I've done nothing of the sort," Hermione protested. While she understood why Molly was annoyed, she wasn't just going to stand back and let her hurl abuse at her. "I love Ron, and I would never knowingly hurt him."

"Love? You don't know the meaning of love," Molly scoffed. "If you did, you wouldn't be breaking my son's heart right now."

"Ron's heart is not broke. Yes, he's likely hurt by what's gone on, but so am I. It wasn't an easy decision to end things, but we both knew it was the right decision."

"Don't make this out to be a mutual decision," Molly spat. "You may have Ron fooled into thinking he's on board with this, but I know the truth. You used my son and the second that Death Eater walked back into your life, you dropped Ron like a hot potato. You're a vile, manipulative witch, Hermione, and when I'm finished, none of my family will want to know you."

"It won't work," Hermione said, biting back the tears that threatened to spill at Molly's cruel words. "Ron is my best friend, you can't change that. And you can't brainwash your family into hating me. Like it or not Molly, your children have minds of their own, and unlike you, they've made an effort to understand the situation."

"I understand the situation perfectly," Molly spat. "You'd rather be with a Death Eater than my son. You'll regret it Hermione. The Malfoys are nothing but bad news, and when everything goes wrong don't come crying to me. You deserve everything you're going to get."

Before Hermione had a chance to respond, Molly turned on her heel and stalked out of the book shop with her head held high. Still reeling from what Molly had said, Hermione glanced around and found several people staring at her strangely. When a couple of them began to gossip amongst themselves, Hermione quickly told her assistant to handle things for a while before she rushed off to the back office.

Collapsing into her chair, Hermione felt a few tears fall down her face. Swiping them away, she refused to let Molly's words get to her. She refused to feel guilty about the situation when it was nothing she could have predicted. It wasn't as if there was a precedent for how to deal with your ex-boyfriend coming back from the dead when you were engaged to your best friend. Everyone had handled the situation the best they could, and Molly would just have to deal with that.

 ** _000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000_**

Much to his frustration, Lucius was forced to stay away from his wife and son following the revelations he'd been responsible for keeping Draco and Hermione apart for the last seven years. As much as Lucius wanted to talk to Draco and Narcissa and try to fix things, he knew them both well enough to know a little bit of distance was what was needed. He wouldn't get anywhere with either of them while they were angry, so he would have to be patient and plan his next move to perfection.

Lucius was still annoyed that his plan had been rumbled, especially since he'd thought it was fool proof. If only he'd known Draco was going to approach Hermione when he was in England, he would have convinced his son not to go and visit Theo. But how was he to know Draco would want to see the witch who he thought had broken his heart? Lucius certainly hadn't expected that, nor had he expected Hermione's friends to launch an investigation and uncover the truth.

When Lucius had first found out about Draco and Hermione he'd been appalled, but he'd been too concerned with Draco's health to worry about breaking them up. It was only when he and Narcissa looked into transferring Draco and they discovered that the best clinic was in France that the plan began to form. Once the idea had set in, Lucius had followed through without a second thought.

It had been easy to pay the healer off, and convince him to leave the country once Hermione had been told Draco was dead. He'd also paid off a medi-witch from another department, and arranged for her to be on duty when Hermione visited the hospital. Lucius had been confident that Hermione wouldn't take things further, and he'd been right. If it hadn't been for the fact she'd seen Draco, she would have lived her whole life thinking he was dead.

As for Draco, it was easy for Lucius to bring Pansy into his plan. Pansy was more than happy to pose as Hermione and break Draco's heart as even though she didn't really want him for herself, she held enough resentment towards Hermione not to want her to have him. Of course, he hadn't known Draco would be paralysed when he woke up, but by that point it was too late to change the plan. Besides, Lucius had still been confident it was the best thing for Draco. Even now, he remained convinced his actions were justified. Hermione was bad for Draco, and he was determined to ensure they didn't stay together.

On Wednesday afternoon, Lucius was mulling on how best to get back into his families good books when he heard noise from Draco's office. Lucius hadn't been surprised that his son hadn't turned up to work in the few days since the revelations, so it took him by surprise to hear someone moving around in the office next to his.

Getting up from behind his desk, Lucius exited his office and walked into his son's. However, it wasn't Draco in his office, it was his personal assistant, Karin. Stacked up in his son's office were dozens of boxes, and Karin was clearing the few personal effects from Draco's desk.

"What's going on?" Lucius demanded.

"The boxes contain all the files and things relating to the business that Draco had at home," Karin replied. "And I'm taking his personal items back to him."

"Why?" Lucius asked, even though the answer was fairly obvious.

"He's leaving the business Mr Malfoy," Karin explained. Pulling an envelope out of her pocket, she held it out for Lucius. "He asked me to give you this."

Lucius took the envelope out of the witch's hand and tore it open. The letter was formal letter from Draco's lawyer, informing him that his son was leaving the family business with immediate effect. Throwing the letter to one side, Lucius strode out of his son's office and returned to his own office. After a brief moment of indecision, Lucius stalked over to the fire and picked up some floo powder. However, when he tried flooing to his son's house, he found himself bounced straight back to his office.

"Dammit," Lucius muttered, brushing himself down.

Not willing to give up, Lucius pulled out his wand and apparated to his son's house. When he landed, he wasn't at all surprised to find he was outside of the house's boundary lines. Normally when he apparated to Draco's, he landed directly on his doorstep, but not this time. Sheathing his wand again, he stepped forward to head towards the front door, and once again found himself denied entry. Knowing Draco would know someone was trying to get through his wards, Lucius continued to attempt to gain access to his son's property. Just as he was about to give up several minutes later, he suddenly felt the wards drop, meaning he could move forward.

It only took Lucius a few minutes to walk up to his son's front door, but by the time he arrived there, Draco was standing at the door. Lucius immediately knew he wasn't going to be invited inside, but he was grateful to at least be face to face with his son.

"What do you want?" Draco demanded coldly.

"I want to talk," Lucius said. "I want to persuade you to rethink your decision to leave the family company. Don't be so hasty, Draco."

"Do you honestly think I would carry on working with you?" Draco spat. "I thought I made it clear, I want nothing to do with you. You're not my father anymore."

"I'll always be your father, Draco," Lucius replied. "You can't change that."

"Try me," Draco retorted. "This will be the last time you'll see me. I'm finished with the business, I'm finished with you and I'm finished with France."

Lucius took a slight step backwards, stunned by Draco's revelations. "You're leaving?"

"I am," Draco confirmed. "I'm going back home, I'm going back to be with Hermione."

"You can't be serious," Lucius exploded. "She's the reason you walk with a cane, Draco. She's the reason our family line will die out after you."

"What are you on about?" Draco questioned with a frown. "Hermione didn't cause any of this."

"Of course she did," Lucius spat. "Without her, you never would have walked away from The Dark Lord the way you did. She's the reason he attacked you."

"No, you're the reason," Draco snarled, glaring hatefully at his father. "You're the reason I was put in that position. You're the reason I was branded with his disgusting mark when I was barely sixteen. You're the reason I will forever be known as a Death Eater. Without you, I never would have been in that position. You're the one to blame, not Hermione."

Lucius was taken aback by the venom in his son's words, and he was disgusted to find that Draco's words were pulling at his conscience. Deep down he'd always blamed himself for getting Draco involved with Voldemort, but he'd done his best to silence his doubts by convincing himself he'd just done what he thought was right. However, it was a bit of a wakeup call to hear his son voicing his opinions on the matter, and Lucius was left wondering just how long Draco had been resenting him.

"Unless there's anything else you can get the hell off my property," Draco snapped.

"Just one more thing," Lucius said quietly, still slightly shaken up from Draco's accusations regarding his part in his son becoming a Death Eater. "This isn't over. I won't give up on my family, Draco. I will make this right, just you wait and see."

"Too little, too late," Draco sneered as he stepped back inside the house and slammed the door shut in Lucius's face.

"No, it's not too late," Lucius whispered, staring at the door where his son had been standing moments earlier. He was just realising what a big mistake he'd made seven years ago and he was determined to put it right. "I will win, Draco. I will get my family back."

With his vow made, Lucius turned on his heel and apparated away. It wasn't going to be easy, but he intended to make sure everything he'd just said came true. He wasn't giving up on either Draco or Narcissa. He may have to play the long game, and he may have to learn to accept his son's choice of partner, but Lucius was determined to get what he wanted. He would get his wife and son back, even if it took him the rest of his life to earn their forgiveness.

* * *

 **A/N- The next chapter will be posted tomorrow, and the epilogue on Friday. I do have a sequel in mind, where Lucius will play a much bigger role, but for now we've just got some dramione fluff and a epilogue to tie some loose ends to come. As for the sequel, it's pretty much still in the ideas stage so it won't be appearing any time soon - but hopefully it will make it's appearance by the end of the year.**


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen.**

Friday couldn't come soon enough for Hermione, and once the shop was closed for the day she rushed home to finish packing for her weekend in France with Draco. Once she was ready, she flooed to Draco's house and was met by Pixie. Pixie greeted Hermione warmly and took her bags to the guest room she'd stayed in the previous Sunday evening, while Hermione headed into the front room to find Draco.

Draco was sitting on one of the sofas, flicking through a magazine when Hermione entered the room. When he spotted Hermione, he put the magazine down on the coffee table and greeted her with a smile.

"Hey. You're earlier than I expected," He said as Hermione headed towards him.

"Sorry, I can go again if you want," She replied with a smile as she hovered next to the sofa where Draco was sitting.

"You won't do anything of the sort." Draco reached up and took hold of Hermione's hand, gently tugging her down beside him. "I've been waiting for you to come back since you left on Monday morning," He confessed, leaning in and briefly brushing his lips over Hermione's.

"I've been waiting to come back as well," Hermione said with a smile. "The week seems to have dragged over."

"And I bet the weekend flies over," Draco replied. "Before we know it, you'll be getting ready to leave again."

"Let's not think about that right now," Hermione said, refusing to dwell on what would happen on Monday morning. Right now, she wanted to enjoy being back with Draco, with the whole weekend stretching out before them.

"You're right, let's focus on having a great weekend," Draco agreed as they settled back on the sofa and he slipped his arm around Hermione. "Pixie will have dinner ready later on, but for now why don't you tell me about your week. How's the shop?"

"The shop's good," Hermione replied, feeling immensely happy nestled in Draco's embrace. "I've got a great staff, and they've been great with helping me out these last few weeks."

"As long as I'm not ruining your business, having you come to see me instead of opening the shop," Draco said.

"I've got staff to run the shop over the weekend. But even if I didn't, I would willingly close the shop to spend time with you," Hermione replied, looking up at Draco and giving him a smile. "Right now, you're more important to me than anything else in the world."

"Including Ron?" Draco asked. Even though Hermione had made it clear she saw her future with him, he knew there was still a strong connection between her and Ron and he knew whatever happened with them, Ron would continue to be a major part of her life.

"Ron understands that you're my priority," Hermione answered. "In fact, he's been excellent throughout all of this. I just hope he finds the happiness he deserves. He doesn't deserve to end up all alone while I'm happy with you."

"I'm sure he'll find someone," Draco said. In fact he really hoped Ron did find happiness as he'd been incredibly selfless in letting Hermione go when he could have clung onto her and made things as difficult as possible for everyone. "So I take it this means you and him are officially over?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes. He's spoken to his family, and released a press statement. Although I should probably warn you that the press will be all over us when you come back to England. Molly caused a stir in the shop on Wednesday, and the papers yesterday and today were full of speculation about what she was angry about. Sooner or later, people are going to find out what happened and that we're together."

"Maybe that's a good thing," Draco mused. "It would serve Father right if the whole world discovered what a monster he is."

Hermione looked at Draco in bewilderment. "You'd want everyone to find out what he did?"

Draco shrugged as he let out a long sigh. "I don't know. It's pretty personal and I don't relish the idea of my private business being gossiped about, but as I said, it might teach him that he can't just go meddling in people's lives. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens with the press. But I'm more interested in Ron's mother. She wasn't nasty to you, was she?"

Hermione debated brushing the incident off so she didn't worry Draco, but she didn't want to lie to him. No doubt he could find out just what Molly had been saying, so she might as well be upfront with him and tell him everything.

"I'm sorry," Draco said softly when Hermione had finished telling him about Molly. "I didn't mean to cause you all this trouble."

"You're not causing trouble," Hermione insisted. "Molly will just have to deal with what's happened, and if she can't, then that's her problem. I will not regret the outcome of the last few weeks. I regret that Ron's ended up hurt and alone, but at the end of the day it's the best thing for all of us. Things are finally back to how they always should have been, and Molly will have to deal with that."

Draco gave Hermione a small smile as he leant down and gave her a peck on the forehead. "Do you really think things are how they always should have been?"

"I do," Hermione answered positively. "If Lucius hadn't interfered, we would have been together for the last seven years. The only person to blame for all this heartache is your father, and I won't let Molly make me feel guilty for getting the man I love back."

Suddenly sitting up, Hermione turned to Draco and connected their lips in a tender kiss. Draco tangled his hand in Hermione's curls as he pulled her closer to him, all thoughts of continuing their conversation gone as they reconnected in a more physical way. As she edged closer to Draco, Hermione was careful of his leg as the passion between them bubbled. As eager as she was to get physically closer to Draco, she knew things wouldn't be as straightforward with his leg, so she reluctantly pulled away before things got out of hand.

"I wish things weren't as difficult for us," Draco whispered, as if he could read Hermione's thoughts. "I wish I knew just what I could and couldn't do."

"We'll discover that together," Hermione reassured him. "And it doesn't matter if there's things you can't do. Whatever we can do, we're going to have fun doing it together. As long as we're together, that's all that truly matters at the end of the day."

"I guess so," Draco agreed with a nod of his head.

As the couple settled back down, and Draco asked Hermione more about her shop, Pixie entered to let the couple know dinner was ready. Moving into the dining room, the couple sat down to eat and the conversation drifted towards what Draco had been up to over the course of the previous week. Draco told Hermione about how he'd left the family business, and of course he had to mention the visit he'd received from his father.

"Is he genuinely sorry?" Hermione asked.

"Sorry he got caught out," Draco snorted. "I don't think he's sorry for what he did, he's just sorry it all blew up in his face."

"So there's no chance of you forgiving him?" Hermione checked. She knew she would never be able to forgive Lucius for his actions, but she knew it was different for Draco. At the end of the day, Lucius was still his father and Hermione didn't know if he would be able to walk away from him so easily.

"No, I'll never forgive him," Draco said firmly. "Even if I could forgive him for what he did to me, I could never forgive him for what he did to you. His actions were deplorable, and nothing he can say will ever make up for what he's done. As far as I'm concerned, we're finished. I never want to see him, or talk to him, again."

With Draco getting a bit prickly in regards to his father, Hermione swiftly changed the topic to Draco's impending move back to Britain. Part of her wanted to tell him to forget about looking for somewhere and just move in with her, but she knew Draco's plans to find a house of his own was the more sensible option. After seven years apart, they needed to rebuild their relationship until they were at a stage where they were ready to fully commit and live together.

"I thought I could start looking for somewhere next week," Draco said. "It's not like I need to sell this place before I buy somewhere else. I can find somewhere back in England, and then put this place on the market."

"Do you have any ideas where you're going to look?" Hermione asked.

"I was thinking somewhere in the countryside," Draco replied. "I grew up in the country, and I prefer it to living in a town or city. Besides, with floo and apparition, it's easy to commute into London or wherever I set up my business."

"Have you had any thoughts on what sort of business you're going to set up?"

"Not really," Draco answered with a shake of his head. "Quite possibly something to do with Potions, but we'll see. Right now, my priority is finding somewhere to live."

"Will you be coming back alone, or will your mother be coming back as well?" Hermione asked. She knew Draco's parents had moved to France to be with him after his accident, so she was assuming Narcissa would likely return back to Britain with her son.

"Mother is coming back with me," Draco confirmed. "We've spoke about it, and she wants to be near me. She'll likely use one of the Malfoy properties in the country and warn Father he's not to set foot in the house."

"She won't return to the manor?" Hermione checked.

"No, the manor is very much father's house," Draco replied. "She doesn't mind taking one of the other houses, mainly because she helped pick most of them, but the manor is Father's domain. It's his family home, and as much as she hates him at the minute, she wouldn't dream of trying to force him out of the place."

"Do you think your father will follow you back to England?" Hermione asked.

"Who knows with that bloke," Draco answered. "But it won't do him any good. We're done, and nothing will change that. Anyway, we were talking about the house, and I've been thinking about that. I know it's too soon for us to be moving in together, but I was hoping we could find somewhere together and make sure it was decorated and sorted to both of our liking. Then when the time comes, you can just move in."

"I like that idea," Hermione said with a smile. She liked the idea of them both being involved in finding Draco a house, which would one day become their home. "I'm assuming you want somewhere like this, all on one level."

"That would be ideal," Draco said with a nod. "I can handle stairs, but not every day. I think it's easier to find somewhere in the same style as this place. But how would you feel about living in a house without stairs?"

"Stairs don't make the house," Hermione replied with a shrug. "I think this house is lovely, albeit lacking in personality, bar from a few rooms."

"That's because I had no say in most of the house," Draco said. "I had a say in my bedroom and my study, and that was all. I left the rest of the house to a professional interior designer. But I don't want to do that with the new house, I want us to sort it together."

"And we will," Hermione replied. "This house will be the start of our life together. It will be our fresh start, and I can't wait."

"Neither can I," Draco agreed with a smile as the couple finished dinner and headed back into the front room.

After all the drama, they could finally put the past behind them and start to look to the future. Lucius might have tried to keep them apart, but luckily for them he had failed. They were now back together, and nothing would tear them apart ever again.


	19. Epilogue

**Epilogue.**

 _Two years later._

It was a bright summer's day as Hermione and Draco's friends and family gathered in the couple's front room, eager to meet the couple's new daughter. The couple were due home any minute now and there was a real sense of excitement in the air. After seven years of separation for the couple, the last two had been spent putting their lives back together, and now their life was complete following the arrival of their daughter.

After leaving the family business, two years ago, Draco had sold his house in France and with Hermione's input he bought a new one in England, the same house he now lived in with Hermione. Even though Draco had been the only one living there initially, it had always been their plan to find somewhere they could both live, which is what they'd done. The house he'd bought was a large one storey property, which the couple had renovated to their liking. As they'd talked about they made sure the house had no stairs, to make things easier with Draco's leg.

As it was, he'd noticed a massive difference in his leg since moving back to England, with its cooler weather. Initially Draco had been hesitant to let Hermione see just how badly he was struggling, but she'd made him see that his struggles didn't affect how much she loved him. It didn't bother Hermione that he was more reliant on his cane that what she'd seen of him in France. All she cared about was that he wasn't in too much pain, which he wasn't, he was just adjusting to the change in weather. Now two years later, he was coping much better and while he still needed his cane, and in the winter it was a real struggle to walk, the pain wasn't any worse than it had been since his accident.

Initially the couple hadn't lived together as they'd taken the time to get to know one another yet again. However, they'd lived together for over a year now and they'd gotten married three months ago in a quiet ceremony, attended by their friends and family. Happily the physical side of their relationship hadn't been as problematic as Draco as feared. Once they'd discovered Draco could still perform, they'd set about building up his stamina. Initially Draco hadn't lasted long in their sexual encounters, but with practice his old stamina had returned, and apart from the fact he wasn't as flexible as he used to be and Hermione had to take control more than she'd been used to, their sex life was as good as ever.

Aside from his romance with Hermione, and relocating back to England, Draco had spent his time setting up his own Potions Company over the last two years. The company was still in its infancy, but Draco had big plans for the business and everyone who knew him were confident he would succeed in making the company the success he desired. He was going to be a successful businessman, and he certainly didn't need the family company, despite his father still trying to get him to return to the fold.

For the last two years, Lucius had refused to give up on being reunited with his wife and son. Even though Draco still refused to speak to his father, Lucius wrote to him religiously every few weeks, begging for a second chance. Lucius also wrote to Narcissa, and had even persuaded his wife to meet up with him a few times. Lucius professed to be deeply sorry over his actions, and he'd promised Narcissa he would never do anything to hurt Draco again. Draco didn't believe his father's apology was genuine, but Narcissa did think her husband regretted his actions. Not that it changed anything, and she still couldn't forgive him for causing their son so much hurt. However, Lucius wasn't giving up and he was still determined to win his family back round, it just remained to be seen if Draco would ever forgive his father for his despicable actions. At the moment, a reunion between father and son seemed pretty unlikely, but who knew what the future would bring. Maybe one day, Lucius would get his wish, but it wouldn't be any time soon.

The other player in the wicked deception, Pansy, had also been ostracised from the group. Initially Pansy had tried to talk to both Draco and Theo, but neither man would give her the time of day. Draco had told his friends he wouldn't hold it against them if they still wanted to be friends with Pansy, but they'd all washed their hands of her. She'd betrayed Draco in the worst possible way, and none of them could forgive her for that. Eventually Pansy had got the message and she'd stopped contacting the group, no-one had now heard from her in over a year.

As Draco and Hermione's friends and family waited for the couple to return home, Lucius and Pansy weren't the only people missing from the gathering. The other noticeable absentees in the group, were Molly and Arthur Weasley. Molly had never forgiven Hermione for what had happened with Ron, and even though Ron and Hermione were still close, Molly refused to have anything to do with Hermione. Like Hermione had predicted, Molly's outburst in the shop had resulted in the press getting hold of the full story and as a result they spent months pursuing Draco and Hermione for their side of the story. The couple had never spoken to the press, but that didn't stop Molly from speaking up and trying to paint the couple in a bad light. Ron hadn't been at all impressed with his mother, so he'd given an interview setting the record straight and publically giving his backing to Hermione and Draco. Ron's interview had not gone down well with Molly, and from that day on she'd pretended as though Hermione didn't exist. Even when they saw each other at family events, like George and Angelina's wedding, Molly acted as though Hermione was a total stranger. Molly's actions hurt Hermione quite a bit, but the rest of the Weasleys had stood by her and they all still considered her part of the family, and they were all waiting to meet her new daughter.

"Here they come," Ginny suddenly announced as the sound of the floo network sounded from the next room.

Everyone waited expectantly as the door to the front room swung open, and Hermione appeared carrying a small child in her arms. Draco was at her side, carrying a bag and leaning heavily on his cane. Even though the weather was warm, he'd been on his feet a few hours and it was time he needed to rest for a while.

"Wow, what a welcome," Hermione said with a smile as she looked around the room. Of course she'd known everyone was going to turn up, but it was still overwhelming to see everyone she loved gathered together to meet their daughter.

"We're all eager to meet the new little Malfoy," Blaise said with a grin.

"Here she is," Hermione said, smiling down at the little girl in her arms. "Everyone meet Kayleigh Cassiopeia Malfoy."

"She's gorgeous," Narcissa cooed, approaching Hermione. "Can I hold her?"

"Of course you can." Hermione passed Kayleigh over to her grandmother, and watched as Narcissa chattered on to the little girl.

"She's adorable," Ron said, giving Hermione a warm smile. "How old is she?"

"Eight months," Hermione replied. "And she's now officially our daughter."

Ron smiled affectionately as he watched Hermione perch on the side of the chair where Draco had settled himself and the pair turned their attention to their new daughter, who was being fussed over by everyone. He knew how hard it had been for the pair that Draco hadn't been able to have children of his own. Even though the couple had gone through extra testing once they were back together, the end result was the same, Draco was unable to father children. While that might have been enough to split some couples, it wasn't enough to come between Hermione and Draco. Instead the couple had supported one another and started the adoption process, which had officially ended that day with the arrival of Kayleigh and completion of all the paperwork.

For the next couple of hours, Kayleigh was the star attraction as she was passed from person to person, everyone keen to give the baby a welcoming hug. Luckily she was a placid child and was thoroughly enjoying the attention she was getting from everyone. It would seem that even though she wasn't Draco's biological child, she was still like her father in the fact she liked been the centre of attention, which was something he'd always revelled in when he was a child.

While Hermione was chatting to some of the others about Kayleigh, Draco got to his feet and headed into the kitchen, where he'd seen Ron heading earlier. In the last few months the pair had become quite good friends, despite the fact they'd essentially been rivals for Hermione's affections. Fortunately, Ron didn't hold onto grudges and he didn't resent Draco for being the wizard Hermione had ended up with. He'd always known Hermione's heart lay with Draco, and he was just pleased that his best friend was happy. Besides, he'd moved on with his life and found himself a witch he was madly in love with.

"Are you okay with this?" Draco asked as Ron popped the top off the ice cold beer he'd just pulled from the fridge.

"The beer?" Ron frowned. Taking a sip he nodded his head. "Yeah, it's good."

"I meant all this fuss with Kayleigh," Draco replied with a slight smile. He had a feeling Ron had known what he meant all along and was just trying to keep things light between them. "It must be hard for you. After all, a few years ago this could have been you and Hermione."

"Nah, I don't think it would have been," Ron admitted. "Don't get me wrong, I love Hermione, but we never would have worked. I'm just happy she's with someone who loves her and will give her everything she's ever wanted."

"And you couldn't do that?" Draco asked. Even though the pair had become friends, they'd never really discussed the fact Ron had been involved with Hermione and had asked her to marry him.

"I was missing one vital thing," Ron replied.

"What?"

"I wasn't you," Ron answered with a causal shrug. "I could never give her everything she wanted, because what she really wanted was you. Fortunately, things worked out and she got what she always wanted."

"And what about you?" Draco asked. "Did you get what you wanted?"

"I did," Ron replied with a smile. "My best friend is truly happy again and content with her life, and I've met a witch I love. Everything has worked out for the best."

"I'm pleased you think that," Draco said with a relieved smile. "Thank you Ron, for everything. You're a really good bloke, and I'm pleased Hermione has such a good friend. She really is lucky to have you in her life."

"I'm the lucky one to have her in mine," Ron replied with a shrug. "But then again, you know that from experience don't you. We're blessed to have Hermione in our lives."

Draco nodded his agreement, and shaking hands with Ron, he headed back into the front room to join the others. As Draco left the kitchen, Daphne entered and when she looked at Ron, he knew she'd heard quite a bit of the conversation he'd just had with Draco.

"Do you always listen to other people's conversations?" He asked with a teasing grin.

"I just didn't want to interrupt," Daphne replied as she refilled her glass of wine. "And for the record, I agree with Draco."

"What on?" Ron asked.

"That you're a good guy," Daphne answered with a smile. "Most men in your position would have clung onto Hermione, despite knowing she'd be happier elsewhere. It takes a big man to let go of someone you love, knowing they'll be happier with someone else."

"I was just doing what was best for both of us," Ron said with a shrug of his shoulder. "Hermione deserved to be happy, and so did I."

"And are you?" Daphne asked.

"Am I what?" Ron retorted.

"Happy?"

"I am." Ron grinned at Daphne as he closed the gap between them and gathered her in his arms. "I love you, Daphne. Finding out the truth about Draco, not only gave Hermione her happy ending, but it gave me mine. We're both happier now we're with people we truly love."

"I love you too," Daphne said as the pair shared a quick kiss. "Now let's get back into the front room, I want to see more of Kayleigh before they put her to bed."

Smiling contently, Ron followed his girlfriend back into the front room where everyone was still making a fuss of Draco and Hermione's young daughter. He'd meant what he'd said to Daphne about things working out for the best. Not only had Hermione been reunited with her true love, but Ron had also had the chance to find real love with Daphne when the pair had become friends via Draco and Hermione's romance. Finally Ron knew what it was like to truly be in love with someone, and it made what he'd felt for Hermione pale in comparison. They truly were better off as friends, and it had been worth all the heartache of two years ago for them both to get their happy endings.

 **The End.**


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